Яeverse Blue
by PK.Atomyst
Summary: Somehow, Homura has stolen Sayaka's life. Her home, her family, her friends, and her past. Sayaka is determined to get to the bottom of how and why, as she searches for a way to get her life back.
1. ƎИO : TƆA

**ƎИO : TƆA**

* * *

Sayaka woke up in the hospital, on the day she would meet Madoka for the first time...

 _Wait, but that's wrong._

She sat up in bed, and looked over at the calendar. If the calendar were to be trusted, this day was two months before Walpurgis Night. The days all leading up to today were crossed off, and there was a big flower drawn around the current date, with the words "First day at new school!" written inside the box.

Sayaka let her legs hang over the side of the bed, and tried to remember.

Why was she in the hospital?

There was an accident three years ago; it took her mother's life and left Sayaka herself bedridden. Except that wasn't right, because two years after that, Sayaka had a memory of crying because both her mother and father didn't make it home for her birthday due to being away on a business trip. Both memories felt real to her, but one discredited the other.

With the birthday memory: She remembered Madoka had managed to cheer her up by throwing a party together for her at the last minute, complete with a homemade cake that her father helped her bake. She invited all their friends from school and it ended up being one of the best birthdays Sayaka ever had.

Except, none of that could have happened, because Sayaka didn't have any friends. She had many late nights laying in this very same hospital bed, unable to sleep and feeling depressed because she was alone and did not have anyone her own age to hang out with. Yet, she also had memories of going to school and being good friends with Madoka, Hitomi, and Kyosuke.

"What the hells going on!" She growled to herself, ruffling her hair and trying to make herself think.

This was the first time she had conflicting memories like this, however, so that means something changed recently. Somehow, for some reason, she has an extra set of memories. Which were real, though? Which were fake? Well, considering she was sitting in the hospital right now; logic would dictate that the memories of knowing a girl named Madoka were the fake ones. That didn't seem right though, because she knew Madoka so well! Why, just last week they were walking to school together and...

Sayaka's eye's widened, and she looked at the calendar _"First day at new school!"_

She couldn't have walked to school with Madoka or anyone else last week, because (if the calendar were to be trusted) she had not begun going to school yet. And of course the calendar could be trusted; she wrote it there herself! She had been counting down the days ever since they told her she would be released from the hospital soon!

There was a crucial point in all this she was missing, however. She looked back at the calendar. What had she thought when she first looked at it this morning... something... something about...

 _Walpurgis Night!_

In her set of Madoka memories, she remembered making a wish, becoming a Magical Girl, fighting witches, meeting Kyoko and getting into a fight with her. Then she remembered becoming very sad about something, and she was talking to Kyoko, but her memories abruptly become a blank after that. Either way, none of these things would have happened yet, but she could still remember them. So, that gave her an idea on a way to shed light on this whole duel memory situation: Her _SoulGem_... if the Madoka memories were real, then that would mean she is a Magical Girl, and there would be a ring on her finger. She stared at the wall for a while, partly afraid to look down and see the truth, but she had to do it.

Her head tilted down slowly, and she looked at her hand... and there it was! Her SoulGem was in ring form, right there on her finger where it was suppose to be! She disenchanted the ring, and returned it to its standard form. Yes... she was still a Magical Girl, which was the biggest credit to the Madoka memories being real she could ask for.

She looked around the hospital room and thought, _there's no way this is my life_. The life of a sad lonely girl with a fragile body; there's no way that could be real! She still needed more proof, though. She got out of bed and changed into the school uniform that had been sent to her earlier that week.

* * *

" _Woooh!_ S-sorry I'm late!" Homura yelled as she caught up with her friends. She bent over in front of Madoka and Hitomi, panting to try and catch her breath. "Thank you for waiting!"

"Of course!" Madoka smiled, "We wouldn't leave without you, you know."

After giving her a moment to regain her breath, the three of them started walking to school.

"So how come you were late?" Hitomi asked Homura.

"Oh... I overslept!" She admitted, smiling awkwardly.

"That's no good Homura-chan!" Madoka said with a scolding tone, "You've been doing that a lot lately." Then she noticed the end of one of Homura's pigtails was coming undone. "Oh, wait a second." She said, slowing her down. She gave her a smile as she took the pigtail in her hand and started working at tightening the braid. "You were in such a rush you didn't even fix your hair this morning, did you?" She laughed.

"Yeah... I guess not." Homura laughed, "Speaking of that, aren't those new ribbons you've got in your hair?"

"Well, they aren't new, but my mom picked them out for me this morning... um, they don't look too flashy do they?"

"Not at all!" Homura reassured her, "They look great, right Hitomi?"

"Yes, of course... but I have to wonder," Hitomi mused teasingly. "There's a new transfer student coming in today, were you hoping to impress him?"

"What?" Madoka blushed, "It's not like that! Besides, we don't even know if it's a boy or a girl yet." She finished fixing Homura's braid. "There, done."

"Thank you." Homura smiled, and they continued walking to school together.

* * *

Class started with one of Miss. Saotome's not-too-infrequent speeches about proper breakfast etiquette, relating to her current boyfriend. Nakazawa was once again the unfortunate victim she chose to vent her rage upon.

"Nakazawa!" She said, jabbing her pointer at him, "What is the proper way to fry an egg? Sunny side up or down?"

Nakazawa seemed to be shrivelling up under her intense scrutiny, "W-well, it tastes ok if it's done either way? Right?" He said with a grimace, praying that was an acceptable answer.

"Correct!" She shouted, then addressed the rest of the class, "Therefore, girls, when you get older do NOT let yourself become involved with a shallow man who will nitpick over the fact you fried an egg sunny side DOWN! And boys, if you ever find yourselves with a strong opinion about it one way or the other..." She reached the climax of her rage, taking her point in both hands and snapping it in half, "KEEP IT TO YOURSELF!"

After taking a moment to catch her breath and regain her composure, she then put on a smile and said "Now that we've got _that_ out of the way; we have a new student coming in today." She then called out into the hall: "Miki, you can come in now!"

The students quietly whispered amongst each other for a moment. One of them cautiously asked, "Shouldn't that have come first?"

The whispering petered to silence as the transfer student walked in. She had short blue hair with a golden pin, and a pretty face, though her eyes seemed heavy and exhausted. She took a place in front of the class and turned to face them.

Sayaka's eyes became alive with intent as she searched through all the different students. When her eye's set on Madoka, she just stopped and stared. _"Please remember me. You have to remember me!"_ Based on the puzzled look on the pinkette's face, it was clear she did not. Madoka, her very best friend, was looking at her without a hint of recognition in her eyes.

Homura noticed the exchange between the two of them, and looked back and forth between them, wondering if they knew each other. Then, when Sayaka saw the black haired girl who was sitting in the seat that normally belonged to her, her eyes narrowed and her pupils became small and piercing. _"What is SHE doing here? Wait..."_ Her eye's became more and more intense as an idea hit her. _"Is this... her fault?"_

Homura quickly became very nervous, and looked away, but she could still feel the transfer student's eyes upon her.

While all of that was going on, Mrs. Saotome gave a brief introduction for Sayaka, explaining that she had just got out of the hospital and may need some help from her fellow classmates. "Now, Miss. Miki, is there anything else you would like to say to the class?" She then noted the strangely intense look on her new student's face. "Eh, Miss. Miki? Are you ok?"

Sayaka snapped out of it, looking around in confusion for just a moment. "Ah, um... yes I'm fine..." She bowed her head before the class. "I'm happy to be here!" She said, trying to brush off her near freak out. She would get to the bottom of whatever was going on here, but now was not the time.

* * *

From that point forward, class was fairly normal. Although, Sayaka felt it was hard to concentrate, her mind was on twenty different things at once. She was sure that Homura had something to do with all of this; she just was not yet sure _how_ exactly. She looked over to the black haired girl; she wasn't anything like Sayaka remembered her. Her hair was done up in two long pigtails, she wore glasses, and everything from her facial expressions to her body language were the complete opposite of the Homura who Sayaka was familiar with. The who Homura she knew was cool and intense, and could stare death in the face without batting an eye. This Homura was nervous and awkward. As if to reiterate that point, when Homura noticed Sayaka was staring at her, her eye's darted away nervously and she seemed to become completely frazzled as if she now did not know where to look.

Madoka was more or less as she always was, cheery and full of excitement... although, when she and Sayaka made eye contact, that puzzled expression that was on her face felt very hurtful to Sayaka. She was her best friend ever since they were little kids, and it seemed like Madoka didn't even know who she was. Meanwhile, Sayaka could tell by a few occasional glances between Madoka and Homura that they knew each other quite well. Sayaka looked back to Homura again, who was cautiously taking a peek at the transfer student, but her eyes quickly darted away again once when they made eye contact.

Was it an act? Sayaka thought it must be, but again, there is not much she could do at this moment to get to the bottom of things. After school though, she would definitely have to confront Homura. Before that, she wanted to have a talk with Madoka, to see how much she did know and hopefully jar her memory. Right now Sayaka wanted nothing more than for her best friend to recognize her again.

After class, all of the student's made their way down to the lunch room. Sayaka cautiously scoped out where Madoka took a seat, and seated herself where she could keep an eye on her. She needed to come up with a reason to approach her, and start a conversation. Hitomi and Homura were sitting with her, which would make things trickier as Sayaka just wanted to speak with Madoka privately for now.

As Sayaka was thinking about all this, a group of four girls approached her, and ended up standing in her way so she couldn't see Madoka anymore. Sayaka use to know all these girls; it was in her alternate life that was now seeming less and less real to her. "Hey, Miki-san," said the green haired one with a smile. "Mind if we sit with you?"

Sayaka tried to look between their bodies to keep track of Madoka, but they were quite effectively blocking her vision. "Um... yeah, sure," she said.

They looked at eachother, conferring that the transfer student was acting somewhat strangely, but they just shrugged and took their seats. As soon as they were seated they started bombarding her with questions.

"So where did you go to school before this?" One asked.

"I... uh..."

"Do you play any sports?" asked another.

"How about music?" asked a third.

"I really like your hair! Where did you get that pin?"

"What's your favorite subject?"

"Any pets?"

Sayaka was suddenly remembering why it was she never became good friends with these girls before. "Well... let's see..." She started, trying to answer a question, but as soon as her mouth opened she was hit with five more. She was starting to get really irritated, and felt herself getting worked up to the point of telling them all to go away. However, before she had the chance, she heard a familiar voice.

"Miki-san," Madoka said, as she approached the table and bowed. Sayaka looked up at her with an expression that begged for help. "Don't you need to go to the nurse's office?" Madoka asked.

That's right, she did have medication she was suppose to take every day, because of her condition. Did that condition still affect her, though? She wasn't sure how this split life thing worked, but she felt as though she was the original Sayaka now living the alternate Sayaka's life. Even though as far as actual memories went, both seemed totally real. Well, whatever the case, this was the perfect opportunity for her to speak to Madoka.

"Ah, um... yes..." Sayaka said.

"Sorry, looks like I need to steal her from you," Madoka said to the other girls.

"Oh, that's alright," said the green haired girl who seemed to be the leader of their little crew. "Sorry Miki-san, we didn't mean to keep you."

"It's fine," Sayaka said as she stood up, and she and Madoka walked out of the lunch room together.

* * *

"Sorry about them," Madoka laughed as she led Sayaka through the hall. "They do mean well. It's just that we don't get too many transfer students here so I guess they were a little excited. They are completely harmless though, I assure you!"

"Hu? Oh yeah, I know." In spite of the fact Sayaka was a new student, she walked along with Madoka as if she knew exactly where she was going. She wasn't saying much, and she seemed troubled by something, but Madoka contributed it to the fact she must be nervous.

Homura had mentioned the new girl was giving her strange looks. Madoka had noticed that too, and wondered what it was about, but she did not think much of it. Sayaka had also given her a somewhat strange look in class, but it was more concerned than menacing as Homura had described the look she had received.

Back in the lunchroom both Hitomi and Homura started going through scenarios to explain the new girl's oddities, but it started to seem to Madoka like they were just making fun of her, so she ended up having to scold them. "She's been out of school for five years," Madoka had explained to them, although Mrs. Saotome had already said the same thing. "Plus she doesn't know anyone here, so of course she might seem a little awkward! You shouldn't be picking on her like that!" Homura and Hitomi both apologized and agreed she was right. That's when they noticed Miki Sayaka had been ambushed by that group of nosey girls from their class, so Madoka went to rescue her.

Now, as they walked along the hall, Madoka found she was having trouble thinking of something to say. Sayaka seemed deep in thought about something, which made it a tad difficult to break the ice. "So do you like the school so far?" She asked, cheerily.

"Um... yes..." That response didn't leave much room to continue the conversation, so Madoka started reaching for something else to say. She didn't have to, though, because Sayaka suddenly stopped and turned to her.

"Madoka, I have to ask you something important," she said, her tone was very serious all of a sudden.

"Oh... what is it? Miki-san?" When she said _Miki-san_ , a darkness came over Sayaka's face and her eye's dropped away in a sad, pitiable expression.

"First of all... Please don't call me that. Call me _Sayaka_ ," she said.

"Ah, sure, sure!" Madoka laughed, trying to lighten the mood. "Of course! We are classmates now, so..." Sayaka's expression became even darker, "I-I- um, and you can feel free to call me Madoka..." Her voice trailed off, she was wondering if she had said something wrong, because things had become rather awkward quite suddenly.

"Do you... Remember me?" Sayaka asked the question cautiously. Madoka looked at her, trying to figure it out. She was sure she had never seen her before today, but Sayaka was so sincere about how she asked the question that Madoka thought she might be wrong.

"Did we meet before?" she asked. Then, when she saw the hurt expression on Sayaka's face, she added, "I'm so sorry, I don't remember. Could you refresh my memory? Was it a long time ago?" She typically never forgot a face, so it really was puzzling her.

"I..." Sayaka suddenly took Madoka's hand in both of hers, and looked her in the eyes. "I use to sleep at your house all the time! My parents are always away on business, and our families are close, so your mother would offer to watch me while they were gone! When we were little we use to sleep in the same bed! A-and we'd walk to school together every day. One time, when my parents didn't make it home for my birthday, you put together a big party for me in their place! I... When I was having trouble in math class last year, and it was looking like I wouldn't pass, you helped me study! We... we're best friends!"

Madoka slowly pulled herself away from the transfer student, her eyes became wide, and she felt a little bit afraid. Sayaka refused to let go of her hand at first, so Madoka ended up having to pull herself away forcefully. "Sayaka... That's... if any of that were true of course I would remember, but..." Was this a joke? She didn't know this girl! Yet, the bluenette looked at her with an expression that almost seemed to be pleading with her... and there was something even stranger about all this... "It's so strange, though." Madoka said, cautiously. "Everything you just said, are things about Homura... and things I do with Homura!" How is it that this Sayaka Miki knew so much about her life and her best friend? It was really freaking her out.

Sayaka started breathing heavy, there was a look of terror in her eye's. "Homura..." Sayaka said the name as if there was a bitter taste in her mouth. Then, all of a sudden, her face became completely pale and her knees buckled out from under her. She would have fallen right to the ground, but managed to catch herself on the wall.

"Sayaka? SAYAKA!" Madoka ran to her and tried to help keep her up, "Are you ok?"

"I-I need my..." It was her condition, the reason she had to spend so much time in the hospital. The stress of this bizarre situation caused her blood pressure to go up way too high, if this continued she was going to faint. She tried to resist it, though. She tried to stay on her feet, but at this point she was only succeeding because Madoka was keeping her up. "I need..." Her eyes suddenly rolled back in her head and her body went completely limp. She fell to the ground as if she was a rag doll, and if it weren't for Madoka guiding her as she went down she would have smacked her head right on the solid floor.

"HELP!" Madoka screamed down the hallway. The transfer student was now completely unconscious and being cradled in her arms. "SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!"

* * *

 **I am now on Twitter. Follow me at /Atomyst_Fics or find a direct link in my profile.**

 **I update my writing progress on there every Thursday morning, so if you don't have an account you can still check it out then for an idea of what stories will be updating next.**

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **-Atomyst**


	2. OWT : TƆA

**OWT :TƆA**

* * *

Sayaka's vision was nothing but a white blur when she started coming to. Her eye's rolled around, disoriented, until they found their place in the center and her vision returned. She was laying on her back, staring up at a familiar white ceiling. She sat up and looked around the room, her eye's set on the calendar. _"First day at new school!"_

"Oh, good, you're awake," said a familiar male voice. She looked over to the door, and Dr. Titus was standing there holding a notepad. "That was a bit of a scare," he said as he entered the room. He pulled a chair up alongside her bed and sat down. "You forgot to take your medication this morning before leaving for school, didn't you?" He was the main doctor who had been assigned to her over these last few years. He was fairly young, in his early thirties, he was clean shaven and always had a kind tone to his voice.

"Yeah... I guess so," Sayaka said, putting a hand on her forehead. Her palm felt cold and wet. She removed her hand and looked at it for a moment, then set it back on the bedside. "Sorry about that."

"There is no reason to apologize. You do need to be more careful about that, though." He moved forward and put his own hand on her forehead, he left it there for a moment before dropping it down to her wrist so he could check her pulse. After a moment his hand came back to her face and he said, "Open up." She obeyed, and he looked inside her mouth.

This sort of check up was fairly common for her, so she waited patiently while he did all of this. "You're dehydrated, that's probably why you still feel a bit delirious. Once you get some water you should start feeling just fine again." He got up and went to the bathroom which was on the other side of the room. Sayaka could hear water running for a moment before he returned with a cup in his hand and offered it to her.

"Thank you," she said as she took it from him, and started to drink. When she was done she asked, "How long was I out for?"

"About three hours," he said.

Sayaka looked around, "How did I get here?"

"Well, apparently you passed out on your way to the nurse's office this afternoon. They called us right away, and we sent an ambulance to come get you. Don't worry, we waited until classes were back in session so none of the other students would see you being taken out. Anyway, I checked your pills and realized you had one too many, so we just fed one to you while you were sleeping and waited for you to wake up, and that was that."

"There was a girl with me... Kaname Madoka, did she say anything?" Sayaka was worried about them adding schizophrenia to her list of problems, and hoped Madoka kept their conversation to herself.

"Say anything?" The doctor asked, a bit puzzled. "I don't know anything about that, but there was a girl who waited with you in the nurse's office until the paramedics arrived."

"Yeah, that was probably her. I just hope I didn't worry her too much." In spite of probably seeming like a total psycho, Madoka still waited with her to make sure she would be alright. She was so kind, Sayaka really loved her.

"Still, it's a bit concerning." The doctor said "In spite of not taking your medication, you still shouldn't have fainted like that."

Sayaka shrugged, "It was probably just the stress... That, and forgetting my pills."

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" The doctor asked, there was some concern in his voice.

"What do you mean?"

"Going back to school, checking out of the hospital. There's no shame in waiting a while longer, if you aren't feeling up to it just yet."

"No, no." Sayaka waved her hand to brush off the question, "I'm perfectly fine, I assure you. Besides, I'm going to have to get on with my life eventually, might as well start now, you know?" Dr. Titus just looked at her with some concern in his eyes. "Um... are you still going to let me go home tonight?" Sayaka asked.

"That's your choice to make Sayaka, if you really feel ready for all of that. I don't want you to push yourself, though."

"Yeah, I won't. So..." she wanted to ask _'so when can I leave?'_

Dr. Titus seemed to understand. "We just want to give you a quick M.R.I., then you're free to go. Someone from social services will escort you to your apartment, and make sure you have everything you need."

* * *

The M.R.I. was a fairly simple procedure. She just had to lay on a table that slid the upper half of her body into a large round machine. She had a towel over her face to protect her eyes, while the Machine kicked on and took a scan of her brain. When it was done the doctor sat down with her and looked over the X-ray. "Everything seems pretty normal, except for this right here."

Sayaka looked at the image of her brain curiously. She had seen these types of X-rays plenty of times before, but it always managed to pique her interest. The doctor pointed out a spot that had a slightly darker color than the rest. "This is the section of the brain that usually contributes to thoughts and memory. Seems the activity in this center is a bit higher than normal." He shrugged and laughed, "It's nothing to be concerned about, I guess you have just had a lot on your mind lately, haven't you?"

Sayaka grinned "Oh yeah, you have no idea..."

"Just to be on the safe side, though, I want you to come back for a check up tomorrow. It's probably nothing, and no reason to keep you from going home."

With that out of the way, Sayaka went back to her room to start packing her bag. Getting the apartment together had been in the works for a while now, and it should already have most of the things she needed. All she needed to take from the hospital was her clothes and whatever other small possessions she owned.

It's funny, the entire time she was at school she felt like the old Sayaka living in this new Sayaka's life. At moments like this, though, it felt more like this is the life she always had and the extra set of memories were all fake. She decided to start referring to that as her first life, and this life as her second life, as she was at least sure the other one had come first. Either way, she had to figure out if there was some way to get it back. She knew it was real, and she knew that the old Sayaka is who she was actually suppose to be.

She finished packing the bag that was now laying on her bed, and after zipping it closed she put both hands on top and let out a gasp of breath. She put a hand on her heart, and realized her pulse was beating a bit faster than it should. She was feeling better than when she had initially woken up, but her body still felt weak.

Then an idea hit her: In this second life she was never a Magical Girl before today, so that's why she hadn't thought of it sooner. Now that she _was_ a Magical Girl, however, she could use magic to make herself feel better. She peeked out into the hallway, to make sure no one was coming, then closed the door and pulled her SoulGem out of her pocket. If she was ever tired or out of breath, or had a wound that needed healing, anything, she could always draw power from her SoulGem and improve her stamina. She held it out and felt for its power.

After a moment, she stopped, and looked at it curiously. Then she held it out with an outstretched arm, almost as if striking a pose, and felt for its power once again. Nothing…

 _What the hell?_ Her heart started beating faster. She hadn't tried to use magic yet, so an idea was lingering in the back of her head that in this second life she wasn't actually able to use it at all! The thought scared her, so she quickly pushed it away and ran into the bathroom. _Don't jump to the worst case scenario_ , _Sayaka,_ She told herself, _just pull yourself together and use your magic!_

She looked at herself in the mirror, holding the SoulGem. Just this morning she had transformed it from its ring form to its gem form, so that must mean it still worked! Perhaps she just needed to transform first to use healing spells. In her first life, she could use some magic without transforming, but to use her more powerful spells she needed to transform first. _Ok, here it goes,_ She thought.

Still nothing…

That initial tug of fear she felt earlier was now pulling harder. She couldn't transform! "Why, damn it! Why!" She started shaking the gem as if she thought it was possible to actually shake the magic out of it. She could feel tears starting to sting the corner of her eyes " _Fuck…_ " She said it in a cracked voice, "Why won't you work? Damn it!" She slammed her SoulGem down next to the sink, then buried her face into her hands and started crying.

 _Calm down, just think._ As if things weren't bad enough already, she at least thought she would have her magic to rely on. It was starting to seem as though that were not the case, however. Then, another thought hit her that instantly sucked the tears back up into her eyes. Mami was still alive!

Mami had died a while before the last memory in her first life. It seemed that aside from changing lives, she had also gone into the past, and if things were generally the same in this world as that other one, then Mami would still be alive! She was a veteran Magical Girl, so maybe she would know something about this. If she didn't, then maybe Kyubey would? She felt her stomach turn as she thought about Kyubey. To her dismay, she had found out that little rodent couldn't be trusted, but still, she didn't have much to go on and this is the best she could think of.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard someone enter her room "Miss. Miki?" Called an adult female voice. "Are you in here?" It was probably the social worker.

"Ah, yes!" Sayaka shouted back, "Just a minute!" She looked in the mirror and saw her face was still wet, so she quickly wiped the tears away. Her eyelashes were still damp, but there was nothing she could do about that. She flushed the toilet although it hadn't been used, waited a moment, and then left the bathroom with her SoulGem concealed in her pocket.

When Sayaka left the bathroom, there was a woman out there waiting for her. She was delicately lifting the cover of a book that sat by Sayaka's bedside. When she noticed Sayaka had entered the room, she left the book alone and started walking towards her with a smile on her face. "You must be Sayaka." She held out her hand, "I'm Kiyomi Fuchida, I believe we have spoken on the phone before." She looked Sayaka up and down, probably noticing the dampness on her eyelashes as she did so, but didn't say anything about it.

"Um, yes we have." Sayaka said, shaking her hand.

"It's nice to finally meet you in person," Fuchida said. She looked around the room for a moment. "Are you already packed?" She asked, and she started pacing around and looking at things. She looked to be in her late twenties or early thirties, yet there was a certain strictness in her eyes that made her look a bit older. She wore a suit jacket with light vertical stripes of black and grey, and a white collared blouse underneath. Her pants were a light shade of grey which matched her suit jacket. She looked very formal, Sayaka thought, though she had a rather casual way of speaking and moving which contradicted everything else about her appearance.

"Yes, I'm ready to go right away."

"That's good." Fuchida said, walking over to the bed and picking up Sayaka's suitcase "Just this?" She asked.

"Yes."

"Good, I'll carry it for you." and she started heading for the door.

"Oh, are you sure?" Sayaka asked, as she followed her.

"Of course," she said, and turned to Sayaka with a wink. She moved rather quickly as she led the way down the hall; she seemed to be in a rush. "I made sure the apartment already had most of the things you would need. I also took the liberty of stopping by and stocking the fridge with a few things. Just enough to last you over the next couple days, until you can get around to shopping for yourself."

"Oh, thank you."

"Of course," she said again. They went down the elevator together, and in the main lobby the receptionist gave Sayaka a warm smile. She had seen Sayaka around many times over the last few years, and knew all about that poor girl up on the sixth floor, and how she was finally being discharged today. Sayaka gave her a wave and returned the smile.

Down the front steps and parked in front of the walkway there was a black sedan with tinted windows. Fuchida dug into her pocket for her keys, and pressed a button which caused the car to light up and let out a small beep.

 _Does she know you're not supposed to park there?_ Sayaka wondered, but didn't say anything.

Fuchida opened the passenger door for Sayaka, and she climbed in. Fuchida then deposited the suitcase in the back seat and went around to the driver's side of the car.

"So are you excited to finally be getting out of there?" Fuchida asked as she climbed into the driver's seat and started the car.

"Yes, very."

"How long has it been? Two years?"

"Well… Three technically. For the first year I… um…" Sayaka didn't know why, but she felt just a bit nervous in front of this woman. Maybe it was her rushed demeanor that was leaving Sayaka feeling a bit slow. Well, it could also be all the extra stuff from this dual life she was now living that was weighing on her mind. To say she wasn't quite feeling like herself at the moment would be the understatement of the year.

"You were in a coma for the first year, correct?"

"Yes…"

"I read your file." Fuchida explained, as she threw the car into drive and started driving off, "That's a tough ordeal to go through, especially for someone your age. At your age it must seem like an entire lifetime."

"I suppose."

Fuchida looked over to her and smiled, everything else about this woman seemed very clean and professional, but the way she spoke and her warm smile had a youthening effect on her. "You studied hard over the last couple years, to catch yourself up, despite being stuck in a hospital. That's very admirable, I must say. I guess in the end it all paid off for you; it's pretty rare for someone your age to be considered for emancipation, even under your extreme circumstances. Or, _especially_ under your extreme circumstances, I should say."

She slowed the car down and spun the wheel as she came to a turn. She made the maneuver quick enough that Sayaka had to grab the door handle to keep from sliding out of her seat, yet the maneuver was still done with a certain smoothness. "Although, it's technically a probationary emancipation status." Fuchida explained, "You don't technically have a guardian, but I will be checking up on you three times a week. I need to make sure you are eating properly, keeping your health up, taking care of the apartment, doing well in school… that last one is important." Sayaka nodded her understanding. "Well, I guess that almost makes me like your guardian. I'd prefer not to think of it that way, though, it puts far too much pressure on the relationship. Don't you think?"

"I guess so." Sayaka agreed, trying to be pleasant, but still feeling a bit off.

"If you don't keep up with those things, we'll have to work on getting you into a more traditional foster home instead. That would usually be the go to for someone your age, but I guess you are somewhat of a special case. Anyway the point is, when I stop by it won't just be for a friendly visit. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Sayaka answered plainly.

"Good, I'm sure we won't have any problems, though." Fuchida said, giving her another smile.

* * *

The apartment was located on the corner of a city street, and it stood as another slot in a long row of buildings. As Fuchida pulled the car in front she explained a few things: "There's a grocery store just a little ways down the street that you can walk to. The bus stop is right over there on the adjacent corner, do you see it?" Sayaka nodded. "I'd recommend leaving an hour or so before school so there's no mistakes. Keeping your attendance up is another big part of whether or not you'll pass the probationary period."

"I understand," Sayaka said. Fuchida pulled the suitcase out of the back and led Sayaka into the apartment building. The hallways were dimly lit, and the walls were painted a dull gray color. Sayaka still did not know how much Homura had to do with all of this, but she suspected that if Homura was currently living a life that mirrored Sayaka's first life, then Sayaka was likely mirroring the life that Homura had before that. She wondered how exact the transition was. Did Homura know Fuchida? Was this where Homura lived? Did she also spent three whole years in a hospital? Sayaka knew for a fact that Homura did spend at least some time in a hospital, but she didn't know for how long, or exactly what her ailments were.

Fuchida led her up to the second floor, found the room, and led her inside. She set the suitcase down just inside the doorway as Sayaka walked in and started looking around. "It should have everything you need." Fuchida explained, "There's a computer over there, it doesn't have internet hooked up yet, that'll be up to you as the bill will come out of your allowance." She walked over to a door "Bathroom." walked to another one, "Bedroom." then pointed to a third room, "Kitchen… so what do you think?"

"It's quite spacious," Sayaka said, as she explored around a bit.

"Yeah no kidding, especially if you are living here by yourself. Actually, I'm kind of jealous." Fuchida said it with a laugh. "Well, you're all set then, right?"

"You're leaving?" Sayaka asked, looking back at her as she approached the front door.

"Yeah, I've kind of got a full schedule." She already had her hand on the doorknob. "If you need anything call me… Oh, wait, you need my number." She retreated from the door and walked towards Sayaka. She produced a pen from her front jacket pocket and looked around for something to write on. Not seeing anything, she instead grabbed Sayaka's hand and started writing directly on her palm. Sayaka just blushed and flinched back with a surprised look on her face. "Don't lose that." Fuchida winked, then went back for the door.

Before she could leave Sayaka said one more thing, "Um, M-Mrs. Fuchida!"

"What is it?" she asked, turning back.

Sayaka bowed her head and folded her hands. "Thank you!"

Fuchida just smiled, "Of course, it's my job. If you ever need anything don't hesitate to call. Ok?"

"Ok, I will!"

With the door half open, Fuchida said one more thing: "You're a strong girl. Just stay tough, ok? You'll be fine."

Sayaka wasn't expecting something like that, so she ended up just nodding stupidly in response. Fuchida looked at her for a short moment before smiling and finally turning back to the door and taking her leave.

As soon as the door shut, Sayaka caught a sinking feeling in her chest. She stood there, in the center of the large apartment, and looked around. She felt lonely. She looked back to the door and part of her wished Fuchida would come back inside. Really, she wished anyone at all would come through that door, she didn't care if it was Fuchida or anyone else. Her second self suffered from loneliness in the hospital, but there were at least always people around. Her first self was often home alone while her parents were away, but she had friends she could call. This was the first time in years, for both of her lives, that she had ever been truly alone. She took a deep breath, and tried to strengthen her will so it wouldn't get to her.

She went to the kitchen and started poking around. She wasn't really hungry, she just wanted to see what was here for her. In the freezer she found some packs of frozen vegetables. In the fridge there were lunch meats as well as a carton of milk and a bottle of juice. She checked the cabinets and found bread and instant noodles. She also found a cabinet with pots and pans, and a drawer full of utensils.

Heading back out into the main room, she thought it was rather dark in here. She figured she would have to get some better lighting in here soon. There was a more immediate problem for now, though. She had to figure out what was going on with her SoulGem. She went into the bedroom and turned on the light. It was at least a little brighter in this bedroom than in the rest of the apartment. There was a big standup mirror on the back wall, positioned next to a dresser. She stood in front of it and took out her SoulGem.

"Ok…" She whispered, almost as if she was talking to the SoulGem. It still had its same soft blue glow that it always had, but she couldn't feel any of the power from it. In her first life she always felt a connection to the SoulGem, and the power it held inside felt like an extension of her own body. There was none of that familiar feeling now, however.

She held it forward and shouted: "Transform!"

Nothing...

She looked at it with a frown, and tried again, this time striking a dramatic pose with the gem held high in the air. "TRANSFORM!" She tried again, and again, taking on different poses each time.

"Power ACTIVATE!"

"SHIZZAM!"

"In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight!"

Then, she lifted her leg and did a graceful pirouette; she ended up landing in a pose that kept one leg in the air as she pointed at herself in the mirror and said: "By the light of the moon! I shall punish you!" She held the pose for a few moments, her lips pursed into an awkward grimace. She then slunk out of the pose and stared at herself with an unamused face. "Idiot, of course that wouldn't work." She never had to shout a catch phrase to transform before, so why the hell was she doing it now? Well, she didn't know what else to do, so she was grasping at straws.

She went over to the bed and collapsed on top of it. She rolled over until she was on her back, then just held the SoulGem high in the air and stared at it. She used her other hand to hold it against her finger and return it to its ring form, and with a flash of light it did just as she asked. "I can still do that at least, but why can't I do anything else?"

She started thinking of answers. Maybe, because she is in the past, she would not have contracted by now. Maybe once she reached the day in which she made a contract in her first life, her second self would be able to start doing it as well. She didn't know if that made any sense or if it was just a totally stupid idea, but she was seriously lacking in the answers department right now anyway. If that were the case, that day wouldn't come for at least another week. She couldn't remember the exact date she made a contract, but it was after a really sad conversation she had with Kyosuke. It was also a while after Mami…

Her eyes shot open and she sat right up in the bed. She had gotten so wrapped up in the problems and events of her second self's life that she had forgotten something important. Something that should have been at the very top of her priorities list; before moving into this apartment, before worrying about her SoulGem, before anything! Mami was in trouble! Not only Mami, but Madoka too! Mami had to be warned about the sweets witch, and Madoka had to be warned about Kyubey!

She got right up out of bed, and ran for the front door of her apartment.

* * *

It only took a quick jog down the street to remind herself of how weak her body was in this new life. She stopped to lean against a light post, trying to catch her breath. It only took a few moments to regain herself, then she returned to walking at a quick steady pace, but not so fast as to hurt herself again.

Luckily, she remembered exactly what she had done on the day Homura transferred into their school in her first life. She, Madoka, and Hitomi went to the cafe together for milkshakes, and after that they went to the music store. Would it be the same this time though? When she had gone to the music store with Madoka it was so that she could buy a CD for Kyosuke. She wondered if Homura had a similar kind of relationship with him now; thinking about that made her feel the urge to throw up. Well, whatever the case, she didn't have anything else to go on, so the music store was her best bet.

She ended up deciding to take a city bus since she was lucky enough to be passing by a stop just as the bus arrived. She mapped out how long it would take in her head, and figured she should be getting there right around the same time as Madoka and Homura (if they were going there at all). Even if they didn't show up, the witch would still be there, and therefore Mami would probably show up as well. Sayaka looked down at her ring. What if she ended up being confronted by the witch? Well, if she still wasn't able to use her magic, then in short; she would be screwed.

The bus was a bit crowded, as it was a weekday afternoon in Japan, so there were no open seats and she had to stand with her hand on a bar to keep herself from falling over with the movements of the bus. When she saw her stop coming up, she squeezed her arm between two bodies to get to the bell and signal the bus to a stop.

Once it stopped, she squeezed her way to the sliding door at the side of the bus, and quickly exited as soon as it slid open. She crossed the street to the shopping plaza which contained the music store up on the second floor.

Inside, the mall was well lit with bright colors, and screens lining the walls with advertisements for different things. There was a soft echoing chatter lingering about the air from all the other shoppers. Sayaka went right for the escalator that stood in the center of the main shopping area and rode it up to the second floor. She found the music store and quickly went inside.

The door let out a jingle as she entered. The clerk at the front counter gave her a friendly inviting nod, but didn't take notice or at least didn't react to Sayaka's rushed and purposeful demeanor. There was something else about that nod, though. Sayaka use to come in here all the time, and that clerk normally knew her by name, but now that she was in her second life the clerk no longer knew her and just gave her the standard nod he gave to any customer. Her mind was too occupied with the more important issue at hand, though, so she did not dwell on it.

She looked around, peeking down each row of aisles, but did not see Madoka or Homura here. Maybe they weren't here yet? Or maybe they were not coming at all, it was hard to say. Homura may have had Sayaka's life, but based off their brief interaction in school earlier that day she clearly didn't inherit Sayaka's personality, and it was typically Sayaka who would instigate a visit to the music store with her friends.

She went back to the clerk, "Excuse me, I was supposed to meet some friends here. One has pink hair with red ribbons."

"Hu? Oh, and would she be with a girl with black pigtails and glasses? Yeah they were here." He scanned the store real quick, "Hm, where did they go…" He shrugged, "Must have left."

"Ok, thank you." Sayaka then went back to the aisles to act as if she were browsing. She took occasional glances at the clerk until it was clear he was no longer paying attention to her, and his attention instead focused on a folded up magazine in his left hand. She then snuck around to the back of the store and went out the back door that led to the storage area.

She creeped through an empty corridor, listening carefully. Then she heard something, there was a whistling sound followed by what could be describe as an electronic splash. She heard this sound again and again, followed by a loud crash. She quickened her pace until she was at a steel door which she thought the sound was coming from. She cracked the door open just enough to fit one eyeball over the crevice and peek inside.

The room was dark, but there was a ray of light coming through a window somewhere high up on the wall which spotlighted a white and red lump of fur laying on the ground. Sayaka could hear the soft clicking of high-heeled shoes as Homura revealed herself from out of the shadows. She bent over the small white corpse which Sayaka identified as a mangled Kyubey, and she picked it up by the back of the neck. A soft and sardonic smile hit the corners of her lips, "Looks like I got you this time." She said to the carcass which was lightly swinging back and forth in grasp. "Guess I'm getting better at this."

Despite herself, Sayaka couldn't help but let out a small gasp, and Homura's eyes instantly shot over in her direction. Sayaka quickly let the door go, though it was too late, she had already been seen. "Who's there?" Homura said, Sayaka could hear her footsteps coming closer.

Sayaka had planned on confronting her eventually, but she didn't plan on doing it like this. Well, it was too late to turn back now, so she went ahead and burst through the door, standing to face Homura.

Homura still had those thick red-rimmed glasses on her face, and her hair was still done up in those long pigtails. Her face was totally different, however. It was back to the cold hardened face that Sayaka was more familiar with seeing on the black haired Magical Girl.

 _So,_ Sayaka thought _, it was all an act after all. She really hadn't changed one bit! Aside from stealing my life, that is!_

Homura took a step back, a legitimate look of surprise spread across her face. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"In this situation I think I'm the one who should be asking _you_ the questions!" Sayaka was trying to sound confident, and she thought it was working. In this moment she felt more like her first self, and not so much like the frail second version of herself.

Homura's eyes narrowed, "How much do you remember?"

"Everything! Except for how exactly you managed to pull off stealing my life! So, start talking! How did you do it? Did you get an extra wish somehow? Or did you trick Madoka into wishing for something that caused this?" Homura looked away as if she were annoyed. "You better start talking!" Sayaka raised a fist.

Then they heard another voice, coming from somewhere behind the door which Sayaka had just come through. "Homura-chan?" It was Madoka. "Are you back here?"

Homura clicked her teeth and abruptly turned away. "I'm as clueless about all of this as you are," she said calmly. She found a stack of boxes and opened one up, then disposed of Kyubey's body before resealing it.

"Yeah right, like I'm going to believe that! You know, that's a pretty decent act you have been putting up. I bet it's got Madoka totally convinced! I wonder how she is going to react when she see's you like this, though? Huh?"

"It's not an act." Homura said calmly, as she turned to face Sayaka again. "Listen, I know we aren't exactly friends, but I need a favor from you." Sayaka felt some kind of snappy retort on the tip of her tongue, but the serious and almost pleading expression on Homura's face stopped her.

"Hello?" Came Madoka's voice again, closer this time. "Homura? Is that you?"

"I need you to keep this secret from my other half. I'm not sure how she would react if she became aware of me. Please just accept this, there is no time for argument."

"Other half?" Was she referring to Madoka? That didn't seem right, but who else could she be talking about?

"You will understand soon enough." And with that, Homura held up her SoulGem. It let out a bright flash of light which engulfed her body, and when it cleared her Magical Girl attire disappeared from her body and she was standing there in her regular Mitakihara Middle School uniform. It wasn't just her clothing that had changed however, it was everything about her from her posture to her facial expressions.

"W-what's going on?" She asked, seemingly more to herself than to Sayaka. She took a step back and clasped her hands together at her chest. Her eyes glanced around nervously until they fell on Sayaka "M-Miss. Miki? Why are you here? Um, actually, where _are_ we?"

Sayaka's jaw dropped fully open as she involuntarily uttered three words: "What- the- _hell…_ "

"Homura-chan? Are you in here?" Madoka asked as she opened the door and stepped inside. "Oh! There you are! Um… and Sayaka? What are you doing here?"


	3. ƎƎЯHT : TƆA

**ƎƎЯHT: TƆA**

* * *

"Sayaka, what are you doing here?" Madoka asked, and she looked over to Homura. "You too, why are you back here?"

"I-I don't really remember..." Homura said, eying Sayaka suspiciously and backing away from her. "I um, I was in the music store and... next thing I knew I was back here with Miki-san."

Sayaka looked to the side with gritted teeth, not sure what to say. Homu _rambo_ had asked her to keep this a secret. She didn't really care to fulfill that request, but doubted she would be believed anyway. As if waking up this morning with a dual set of memories didn't put enough on her plate as it was, it seemed things were just getting more and more complicated as the day rolled on.

She then felt a familiar feeling that filled her heart with dread. She had nearly forgotten about the witch that would be lurking around here, and she could now feel its presence closing in on them. "Hey listen," Sayaka quickly said to them, "We should really be leaving now. Come on." She reached forward to grab Madoka's hand so she could guide her along, but Madoka instantly pulled away and retreated over towards Homura. Sayaka looked at her, "What's... wrong?" she said slowly, seeing the way Madoka stuck close to Homura, and the way they both looked at her with deep suspicion in their eyes. Sayaka should have been used to that by now, but it still hurt just as much as the first time Madoka failed to recognize her back at school.

Homura leaned forward and whispered into Madoka's ear. It was just loud enough to pick up a soft echo in the concrete warehouse, and Sayaka could clearly hear every word she said. "W-we should stay away from her." Madoka almost seemed ready to agree, but after taking a look at Sayaka's face she took another step forward. "Madoka?" Homura asked, sticking close to her back.

"Um, Sayaka... are you ok? After you collapsed in school, I really was worried..."

"Yeah, I'm fine." Sayaka said, hurriedly. She could feel the witch getting closer and closer "Look we really have to get out of here, I'll explain later." Then she walked past the two of them and started heading towards the back of the large storage room. "This way, there's a back exit."

Madoka and Homura looked at each other, wondering if they should. Madoka started to follow, but Homura grabbed her hand and started pulling her towards the door they had originally come through. "Lets just go this way." Homura said.

Sayaka turned back with her hand out. "No! It's dangerous that way. Just trust me!"

"Sayaka, but what danger?" Madoka asked. Homura was still pulling on her arm, anxiously trying to get her away from the weird transfer student.

"Look, just trust me. Ok?" Sayaka said, "I'll explain everything later, but there's no time now!"

Homura stopped trying to force Madoka along, and looked back and forth between the two other girls. Madoka could see the sincerity in Sayaka's eyes, and finally turned back to Homura and said, "Come on, Sayaka's not so bad, what are you afraid of?" She smiled cheerily at the nervous noirette.

"Well, I mean... I don't know, I just feel like..." Homura took a quick glance at Sayaka, and shrank away at Sayaka's intense stare. She then lowered her voice to a whisper and said, "I think she doesn't like me very much."

"Well then, this is a chance for you to make friends with her!" Madoka smiled, now being the one to grab onto Homura's hand. "Come on, let's just go."

Thankfully Madoka was still her same trusting self. Sayaka also knew she had a way of reading people, and she must have seen that her intentions were pure. Sayaka didn't know what to make of this split personality of Homura's, but she supposed she would have to leave it alone for now. She found this version of Homura to be quite annoying, but for the exact opposite reasons she disliked the other version of Homura whom she was much more familiar with.

As she led them out the back entrance, however, she realized they were just a little too slow. There should have been a stairwell through the door, but instead they found themselves in a large courtyard surrounded by a chain linked fence. They should have been inside, but overhead there was a dark blue sky with some rotating buildings lining the horizon which looked like structures that belonged in an ancient Roman society. "Damn it!" Sayaka cursed, looking around.

Thorny vines started growing out of the ground at such a speed that it created a wall around them. "What's going on!" Homura screamed, her and Madoka were both holding onto each other tightly.

The witch's minions started revealing themselves from out of the thickets of vines that surrounded them. Their heads looked like cotton balls, and they each had a mustache over their grinning mouths that almost looked comedic. Their bodies were like stems from flowers, and their " _feet"_ (if you could call them that) were in the shape of butterfly wings. There was at least twenty of them. They slowly stepped closer, grinning mischievously, and chanting something over and over again in a strange language that none of the three girls could understand.

"Sayaka what is this?" Madoka asked, then closed her eyes. "This has to be some kind of dream, right?"

"I-I told you we should stay away from her!" Homura screamed, hugging tightly onto Madoka.

"Hey! This isn't MY fault!" Sayaka yelled back at her with a raised fist, and Homura quickly hid behind Madoka, cowering away from her. Sayaka clicked her teeth and turned away, there were more pressing matters to attend to; The familiars were closing in, smiling their weird toothy grins and chanting in that strange indecipherable manner.

 _Come on Mami, where the hell are you?_ Sayaka backed up, trying her best to stay between her two classmates and the familiars. She had her arms stretched out as if she were trying to protect them. She felt for her power, and tried to transform, but the SoulGem still refused to respond. _If Mami doesn't show up soon_...

Sayaka looked behind herself from over her shoulder and scowled at Homura. Sayaka herself might not be a Magical Girl anymore, but there was someone here who _was_ , even if she did not know it herself. Sayaka wondered how it worked; was the other Homura conscious of what was going on here? Or was she in the dark when this weaker version of herself was in control? "Listen," Sayaka said to Homura, "I don't know if you can hear me or not, but I can't transform! So you'd better do something!"

"Transform? What are you talking about!" Homura cried, "Why are you doing this to us!"

"I told you! I'm not doing this!" Sayaka yelled at her as she turned around. She pushed past Madoka to get to the black haired girl who was hiding behind her, and grabbed her by the shirt.

"Sayaka!" Madoka yelled as she was pushed out of the way.

"Come on! Transform, idiot!" Sayaka yelled, shaking Homura back and forth.

"AH! Let me go! Just leave us alone!" Homura screamed with her eyes shut tightly.

Madoka quickly put her hands on Sayaka's shoulder and tried to pull her away. "Sayaka! Stop it!" The familiars were getting closer, at this rate they would be on top of them in just a matter of seconds. There was no time to waste, Mami wasn't showing up, and Sayaka couldn't transform. That meant their only chance would be for Homura to do something. All she seemed able to do right now, however, is cry and cower away.

In a last desperate effort, Sayaka suddenly raised a hand and slapped Homura across the face. "Come on already!"

Homura screamed as she lost her footing and fell. Her glasses flew off her face and cracked as they hit the ground.

"SAYAKA!" Madoka screamed at her and quickly got between them. Homura looked up at the transfer student with tears in her eyes, while she nursed her red cheek which had just been struck.

"We don't have time for this!" Sayaka screamed at Homura, looking over Madoka's shoulder as she held her back, and completely ignoring her for now, "If you can hear me, you better do something _right now_!"

"I told you!" Homura screamed through her tears, "I don't know what you're talking about!" A familiar grabbed onto Sayaka's leg, and she quickly kicked it away. There were more and more coming, and they were all just mere yard away from reaching the three girls at this point.

"COME ON!" Sayaka screamed again.

Then, they heard the sound of a cannon firing, and it was like an answer to a prayer. They heard shot after shot, and one by one the familiars were blown away.

"Well that was a close one," said a voice, "Looks like I made it here just in time." A blonde girl appeared from out of the vines which lined the courtyard. She wore a costume made up of a blouse, a corset, and a yellow skirt, as well as black leggings and heeled boots which matched her dress. She balanced a musket over her right shoulder as she walked towards them, "Don't worry you three. You're safe now."

"W-who are you?" Madoka asked, taking a step towards the newcomer who had just saved them.

"I'm-"

"Mami!" Sayaka shouted.

Mami grinned, "Well, yes I'm Mami Tomoe, but I don't think I have ever met you before… Well, actually I think this will have to wait." She lifted her musket off of her shoulder and steadied it in both hands. The initial wave of familiars had retreated, but they were coming back now, and with reinforcements. There was a huge wave of them, walking slowly towards the group of four girls as they continued with their creepy little chant. "The three of you should get down. I don't want you to get hurt."

All three girls obeyed, and Mami pointed her musket to the sky. She fired it and a yellow ribbon shot out of its barrel, which then retracted and pulled her up into the air. Once she had some upward momentum, she let go of the musket and it disappeared along with the ribbon. She then stretched out her arms and with a flash of light at least twenty more muskets appeared in the air around her. She snapped her fingers and pointed, and the twenty muskets all fired off in a quick succession as if they had taken a command from her. They blew away a good portion of the crowd of familiars and then disappeared again as Mami put her arm back down.

She did a front flip as she descended back to the ground, and landed amongst a small group of familiars. She lifted her skirt and swirled around, and five more musket fell out from under her skirt and positioned themselves in a circle around her.

The familiars started to jump at her, and she would defend herself by grabbing one of the guns and either batting them away with the blunt end, or pressing the barrel into their faces and shooting them point blank before discarding it and reaching for another one.

After destroying this wave of familiars, the rest stayed sheltered in the vines that surrounded the courtyard. They did not come forward, but just shifted back and forth on their butterfly shaped legs, seeming to just assess the situation. When Mami spawned a fresh round of muskets and started firing at them, they started to run away instead of charging after her. Then, the air all around the courtyard started to become wavy and slowly the vines and building which lined the horizon became translucent until they faded away completely and the three of them were once again standing in the warehouse.

Mami grinned and dispelled her guns, then turned to the three girls behind her. "Are the three of you ok?" she asked.

"Wow! That was amazing!" Madoka said, running over to her, Homura stuck close to her side.

"Yes… we're ok…" Homura said, bowing. She picked her glasses up off the ground, noting that the left lense was cracked, then she turned to Sayaka with a pouting expression. Both Mami and Madoka picked up the tension and looked over to Sayaka.

Sayaka for the moment was speechless; she felt a deep joy in her heart to see Mami standing here. Mami, her friend who she thought was lost forever was standing right infront of her, alive and well. Plus, she thought maybe Mami could shed some light on this strange situation she found herself in and help her get her life back.

"Mami!" Sayaka said, running over to her, smiling. "You don't know how good it is to see you."

Mami looked at her with a raised eyebrow, not returning any of Sayaka's excitement "There's something strange about you, and how do you know my name?" Her voice was a bit cold, and it made Sayaka feel awkward.

"Well… it's a lot to explain…"

"She's the one that brought us here!" Homura interjected, "Sh-she sent those things after us!"

"Homura-chan, you don't know that!" Madoka said to her.

Mami stepped forward, and held an arm out, signaling the two of them to stay behind while she confronted Sayaka. Sayaka was torn between emotions. She was happy to see Mami, but for some reason in that moment she almost felt threatened by her.

"L-Listen," Sayaka said, "First of all, she doesn't know what she's talking about. Look…" Sayaka reached into her pocket to produce her SoulGem. "I think this will help explain things." She could feel the jewel in her hand, and she held it out. As she opened her palm to reveal it, she looked away and scratched the back of her head. "See? I'm a Magical Girl like you, or at least I used to be… but…" then Sayaka heard a clicking sound as Mami readied a musket in her hands. "Mami?" Sayaka looked back at her and saw Mami staring down the barrel, and pointing it right at her!

"What are you?" Mami demanded, "Are you a witch?" Madoka and Homura held onto each other as they watched, each of them were intimidated by the sudden tension.

"A witch? What are you talking about? No! I'm…" Then Sayaka realized what she was actually holding in her hand. It was supposed to be her SoulGem, but it had changed. Its normally bright blue color had turned dark, and the metal casing around it was now jagged and spiked. Sayaka instantly thought it looked like a cross between a SoulGem and a GreifSeed. She gasped, and started backing away, but stopped when Mami's musket fired and sent a bullet whizzing right by her face, so close that it actually cut her cheek and sent warm blood rolling down the side of her face.

"Don't move another inch!" Mami told her as she tossed the musket to the side and summoned a new one. "I didn't notice it before because of that other witch's presence, but now it's clear. The energy coming from you, and that thing you're holding in your hand... You're a witch! But, I've never seen one quite like you before. So start explaining! What are you!"

Sayaka's whole body was trembling, her legs felt weak and her knees rattled. She stared at the _GreifGem_ she held in her hands, completely shocked. She looked back to Mami who was staring her down with a killer's intent, and she could see both Madoka and Homura looking at her fearfully. At this point, neither of them would understand much about what Magical Girls and witches are, but even they instinctively knew that whatever that thing held in Sayaka's hand was, it was something bad. "Just hang on a second!" Sayaka pleaded, "I-I don't know what this is! It wasn't like this before!" Sayaka took a step forward, her face begging Mami to just slow down, but as soon as her foot stepped down another bullet whizzed by her face.

"I said don't move!" Mami commanded again.

"M-Mami-san?" Madoka asked, "I don't know what's going on, but maybe you should…"

Sayaka didn't think about her next actions, all she knew is that she was in danger and when Mami became distracted for a moment by Madoka, she took advantage of it. There was a stack of boxes next to her, and she kicked the bottom of the stack to knock it over then made a run for it. The stack was large enough to block Mami's path, and by the time the veteran Magical Girl stomped over them and kicked them out of the way, Sayaka managed to make it far into the maze of stacked boxes in the back of the warehouse.

"Mami listen, you're making a mistake!" Sayaka hollard from her hiding place. Mami crept along, peeking behind every row of boxes and glancing at every shadow. "I use to be friends with you! You are the one who inspired me to become a Magical Girl!"

"I do not know you, and you are NOT a Magical Girl." Mami hollard back. The echo in the warehouse made it difficult for her to pinpoint exactly where Sayaka's voice was coming from. "You're a witch, I can feel it in your presence. There's no denying it!" She stopped at the corner of a row of boxes, then quickly jumped out with her musket leading the way, but Sayaka wasn't there either.

"I don't know why that is! I swear! I-I woke up this morning and everything about my life changed. It's a lot to explain, and I don't know much about it myself, but I do know that I'm not a witch!" Mami ignored her for now and continued snooping around with quiet footsteps, the barrel of her musket leading every one of her movements. Then, when she turned a corner, she saw a distinct shadow in the shape of a human being spread across the floor. It was coming from another hall of boxes just a little further up the corridor and to the left. "If you just let me talk I'm sure I can make you believe me!"

"Come out where I can see you first, then we can talk. I don't want to risk you trying anything." She saw the shadow shift...

"Ok, if you promise not to shoot, I'll come out."

"I promise." Mami said, steadying her aim on the corner she expected Sayaka to come from.

"Ok then, here I come."

Mami could hear footsteps, and the shadow swayed back and forth with the motion of Sayaka walking. Mami pulled the hammer back on her musket, and readied her finger on the trigger. Then, all of a sudden the footsteps stopped, and the shadow shifted again. Next thing Mami knew, the wall of boxes to her left started to topple over and fall on top of her!

As a reflex, she turned to the wall and fired her gun. She then quickly put her hands out and tried to summon a net of ribbons to catch the boxes, but she was just a little too slow. The wall fell on top of her and she was instantly buried beneath it, her net only managed to catch a few of the boxes that were at the very top of the stack. The rest of them fell on top of her and knocked her off her feet.

She was on the ground, buried, and she could hear Sayaka running away. She used her magic to send out a wave of force which blew away the boxes which were on top of her, and caused all the other walls of boxes in the area to start shifting back and forth. She quickly got to her feet and summoned another musket. When she turned the corner, she saw a mirror with a light reflecting off it. "So, that's how she did it… clever..." she said to herself, and quickly ran after the fleeing Sayaka. She couldn't see her, but she could hear her footsteps, and now had a good idea of which direction she was going.

Mami shot her musket into the air, shooting another ribbon from the barrel which wrapped around the rafters at the ceiling. She used this ribbon to carry herself high into the air and over the stacks of boxes, giving her an aerial view of the warehouse. She saw the pink haired girl and the black haired girl standing close together where she left them, and the blue haired girl had just run past both of them, heading for the door at the entrance to the warehouse.

"Tomoe-san! The door!" Homura said, pointing. Mami summoned another musket. She aimed, and she fired. It would have been a direct hit right in the center of Sayaka's back, but Sayaka escaped out the two way door and the bullet crashed against its thick metal instead.

Mami did a frontflip as she descended back down and landed in a crouch near Madoka and Homura. "You two should stay close to me. The original witch ran away, but it could come back. Come on!" And with that, Mami started to chase after Sayaka.

"M-Miss. Tomoe. Why do you have to fight her?" Madoka asked, as she and Homura followed close behind the musketeer.

Mami looked over her shoulder and smiled, "I know how it seems, but just trust me. I'll be able to explain more later." Then she paid the two girls no more mind as she continued to chase down her prey.

When she made it out into the hall, she steadied her musket and aimed, but the blue haired girl was already disappearing through the door that would lead into the music store.

* * *

Sayaka was panting as she came bursting into the music store. The clerk looked up from his magazine at the red faced girl and said, "Hey! What are you doing? You're not suppose to go back there!"

"Sorry!" Sayaka shouted as she ran passed him and out the front door.

"Hey! Hang on a second!" The clerk yelled, but he ultimately decided he didn't want to trouble himself with actually going after her, so he just shrugged his shoulders and went back to reading his magazine.

A moment later, three more girls came bursting in from the back door, all of them dressed in the same school uniform. "Hey! Hold it right there!" The clerk yelled at them as the group ran past his counter, completely ignoring him.

Only the pink haired girl stopped as they passed his counter. She turned to him and bowed her head, "I'm so sorry!" she said, then she continued to run after her two companions.

"Ah, damn kids," he said to himself as he watched them leave the store. "I really need to start locking up back there." Then he turned back to the magazine, completely forgetting about what just happened.

Sayaka's heart was racing as she pushed through the crowd of people in the mall. She heard someone tell her to watch where she was going, but ignored him and went for the escalator. "Excuse me! I'm sorry!" she said, as she pushed past people on the escalator and quickly made her way down. Then, she felt the tips of her fingers going numb and her head started spinning. _No! Not now!_

She was panting as she came to a stop in the lobby, and looked back up to the second floor. She saw the three girls who were chasing her, all of them were leaning over the railing overhead and staring at her. Homura was pointing at her, and Madoka looked between the other two other girls with a concerned looked on her face as she said something. Mami just stood there with her arms folded, realizing she couldn't finish the fight in a crowded place like this.

 _I made it_ , Sayaka thought, although her vision was starting to blur and it felt like everything was spinning around her. Her skin felt like it was covered in cold sweat and the tips of her fingers were tingling. _Just… don't…_ She turned to walk away, but her knees gave out and she fell to the ground.

"Hey is she ok?"

"Someone call an ambulance!"

She looked up as a few people crowded around to help her out, but her vision was blurred and she only saw them as silhouettes. "Hey, are you alright?" Someone asked as he lifted her up by her shoulders. But then her head went limp, and she lost consciousness.

* * *

Sayaka woke up in a small room with her back on a stretcher. A paramedic was leaning over her and checking her pulse. It took her a moment to realize she was in an ambulance. "Oh, you're awake," the paramedic said as he took out a small flashlight, "Can you tell me what city you're in?"

"Ah… Mitakihara," Sayaka answered, her voice was weak.

"The date?"

"Um… March 25th."

"Good, here follow this light." The paramedic started moving the flashlight back and forth in front of her field of vision. She did as he asked and watched the light. "Good. So how are you feeling? Any dizziness? Nausea?"

"N-no I'm fine." Sayaka said, although she actually did feel quite dizzy. She tried to sit up, but the paramedic pushed her back down with a soft touch.

"Just lay down for a moment, there's no need to get up."

"W-where are we going?" Sayaka asked. Based off the tone of her voice, the paramedic could tell she was still a bit dazed.

"To the hospital, to see if we can figure out what happened to you. Apparently you fainted in the middle of the mall. Any explanation for why that happened? Any medical conditions we should know about?"

"Medical conditions…" Sayaka repeated the word back to him. Then shook her head and tried to smile, "No, no, nothing like that. Um, I was just running to try and catch the bus, and next thing I knew I got a bit dizzy… um… I haven't eaten all day, so that's probably all it is." Sayaka tried to sit up again, but the paramedic once again kept her down and put a stethoscope over her heart.

"What's your name?" He asked.

"Um… My-my name?" Sayaka's eyes darted around. She realized that if she was taken back to the hospital twice in one day, there was no way they were going to let her continuing living on her own. She had to find a way to get out of this. The paramedic didn't know her, but if she gave her real name then there was no doubt it would get back around to Dr. Titus. "My name is… um…" She then said the first name that came to her mind, "Kyoko Sakura."

"Ok, Miss. Sakura. Well, you seem to be ok for now. We are just going to run a few more tests once we get you to the hospital, and we'll probably want you to stay overnight for observation. Is there anyone who you want to meet you there? Like a parent? I can let you make a phone call."

"Um… no I don't need a phone call…" She looked around, trying to think of a way out of this. She had too many things she needed to do if she was ever going to get to the bottom of what was going on with this dual life situation. Not only that, but the situation with her SoulGem added a whole new layer of problems that she couldn't even begin to start thinking about. If she ended up stuck in that hospital again she would have no choice but to just stay there and wait around. Also, even though Mami had just tried to kill her, she still needed to find a way to warn her about the _sweets witch,_ also known as _Charlotte._ "Hey listen, I'm really feeling fine now… so… do you think you could just let me off on the corner somewhere? I-I really don't need to go to the hospital."

The paramedic just laughed as he set his stethoscope down. "Not a chance." Then he banged on the front window to talk to the driver. "Hey, she's stable, so you can slow down a bit."

"I mean… really, it's kind of a waste to go through all of that… besides, it's kind of inconvenient for me so…"

The paramedic looked at her for a moment with a bit of compassion on his face. "Sorry, but we can't do that. It's completely against policy, I could lose my job over something like that, especially since you're a minor. Besides, you just fainted and we have no explanation as to why it happened. We can't just let that go, it's possible you have a serious medical condition."

"I understand that… but…" She tried to get up once more, but once again he gently pushed her back down.

"Just relax." He said with a smile.

Sayaka could feel the ambulance slow down and stop, probably for a red light.

 _Think._

"Um… can I at least have some water?"

"Sure, no problem. I've got some bottles right over here." The paramedic then turned and walked to the other side of the ambulance and opened a drawer.

 _Ok, I only got one shot at this…_

Sayaka jumped off of the stretcher and kicked her foot up right between his legs. "I'M SO SORRY!" She screamed as her foot connected. She quickly climbed over him when he fell down, and she went right for the back door.

"Wait a second!" He said through a pained groan and grabbed her leg. She kicked his hand away, and pushed the door open.

"I'M SORRY!" She screamed again, as she jumped out of the ambulance. The driver of the car behind them stared at her with a dumbfounded look on his face, but she paid him no mind. Luckily, they were stopped right outside of an alleyway, and that seemed like a good escape route.

She ran down the dark alley, just glancing back once to see the paramedic stumbling out of the back of the ambulance, holding his groin. There was a turn in the alley that led to a different street. Once she was outside and on the sidewalk, she started walking at a normal pace again and tried to steady her breathing. If she pushed herself much harder she was at risk of passing out again, and that seriously would not go over well. Not only would they make her go back to the hospital, it would probably be a totally different kind of hospital they stick her in. The kind where all of the patients spent their days weaving baskets, and half thought they were either movie stars or the king of China.

She ducked inside of a restaurant and quickly took a seat away from a window. Her face was flushed, and she was breathing heavily, but she figured she was safe now.

* * *

"I'm sorry about all of that earlier," Mami said, as she set down a tray with tea cups and pastries for her two guests. "Things got a little bit hectic. I hope you didn't end up getting the wrong impression of me."

Madoka and Homura glanced at eachother, conferring their feelings then Madoka shook her head and said, "No, no, not at all! Um, when you saved us from those monsters, that was really amazing… but… I don't understand why you had to go after Sayaka… This is all very confusing."

"I guess you both have a lot of questions," Mami said, sipping her tea. "Well, I'll do my best to explain things. You see, I'm what's called a Magical Girl, it's my job to fight witches. Those creatures that attacked you are what are called familiars, and they are the minions of the witch who created that labyrinth I found the three of you in."

"S-so, this Sayaka person is a witch?" Homura interjected, "She's the one who sent those things after us? Right?" Madoka looked over to her, getting ready to complain about that sentiment, but Mami spoke first.

"Well, to be honest with you, I'm not sure about Sayaka. I don't think she sent those familiars after you. There was another witch I was chasing down when I found you, but it ended up getting away while I was going after Sayaka. I really don't know what to make of her; if she is a witch she is unlike any I have ever seen before. I _can_ say this, however: she is not human."

Madoka frowned, feeling rather disheartened about what Mami just said. "But… why do you say that? Sayaka seems a bit strange, but I don't think she is necessarily bad…" Then she glanced over to Homura. The left lense of Homura's glasses was still broken from when Sayaka had slapped her, and Homura was giving Madoka a somewhat accusing look. "I mean… Before you showed up, Mami, it almost seemed like she was trying to protect us…"

"B-but, she attacked me!" Homura said, "Besides that, she's the one who led us into that horrible place in the first place!"

"Listen," Mami said, "If Sayaka is indeed a witch then you have to be very careful around her. Witches are evil creatures who cause despair in humans and feed off their negative emotions. They are masters of manipulation, and are often known to push people towards things like suicide, or committing crimes and doing other bad things. I could definitely feel a witch's power coming from Sayaka, and that gem she showed us proves it beyond any shadow of a doubt. However, she is unlike any witch I have ever seen before. They never take the form of actual human beings, and normally they can only exist inside of a labyrinth."

"Um… M-Mami?" Homura asked, "How exactly did you end up getting involved in this kind of stuff anyway?"

Mami smiled, "Well, that's a long story… You see, in order to become a Magic Girl- Oh, well look who just showed up." She pointed over to her window, and Madoka and Homura both turned their heads to look. Sitting on the windowsill was a creature that looked like a cross between a cat and a rabbit. It had a catlike face with glowing red eyes, and long rabbit ears with golden rings around the end of them. It jumped down from the windowsill and started walking towards them.

"W-what! It moved?" Homura said, flinching back, "I thought it was a stuffed animal!"

Mami just laughed "Kyubey, where have you been off to? It's not like you to disappear in the middle of a witch hunt."

"It's a long story." The animal said as it jumped up onto the table, "I was just a little preoccupied with something, is all." It's head then turned and it's beady little eyes focused on Homura.

"I-IT CAN TALK!" Homura screamed, and nearly fell out of her chair. Aside from the surprise of meeting a talking animal of a species she had never seen before, the way it was staring at her was really creeping her out. It didn't seem to pay Madoka much mind, but it seemed very interested in Homura for some reason.

"This is Kyubey," said Mami, "He is a good friend of mine."

"I'm very pleased to meet you!" Kyubey said cheerily, as he took one last long look at Homura and then turned to Madoka. His tailed started wagging as he did so.

"U-Um, n-nice t-t-to meet you!" Homura blurted out, still lost in shock.

Madoka bowed her head as politely as she could manage, she was also a bit weirded out by this but was at least holding herself together better than Homura. "Yes, it's nice to meet you too Kyubey-san! I'm Madoka Kaname, and this is Homura."

"Kyubey is the one who actually turned me into a Magical Girl," Mami explained, "Kyubey, would you mind explaining things to these two? I'm sure you can do a far better job with it than I could."

"Certainly!" Kyubey said as he turned back to Mami, wagging his tail. "This is actually _very_ fortunate, because I have had my eye on Madoka Kaname for a while now."

"You have?" Madoka asked, "But why?"

"Because!" Kyubey turned back to her, "I want you to make a contract with me! And become a Magical Girl!"

* * *

The sun was starting to go down by the time Homura made it back home. She walked with Madoka most of the way back, discussing the day's events, and what they had learned from Kyubey. Apparently, Kyubey had the power to grant any wish, but in exchange Madoka would have to become a Magical Girl and fight witches. Kyubey told Homura that she was not eligible to become a Magical Girl, when Mami asked him why that was he didn't answer.

"S-so, are you going to do it?" Homura asked, fidgeting her hands together as she and Madoka walked home together.

"I don't know… I mean, this is all very sudden…" Madoka seemed deep in thought about it, "I mean, the idea of getting a wish granted sounds pretty amazing, but I have no idea what I would even wish for." She smiled at Homura and blushed.

"B-but if you did… You would have to fight th-those monsters that tried to attack us…" Homura sighed, "Mami's really amazing, I could never do something like that. I-it's no wonder Kyubey doesn't want to make someone like me a Magical Girl..."

"Homura-chan!" Madoka smiled, "You shouldn't be so down on yourself like that. Besides, I don't even know if I'm going to do it… It does sound kind of scary. Well, Mami said she'll take me along on her next witch hunt so I can see what it's like first… but I don't know."

"Yeah, those familiar things were pretty scary. I wonder what an actual witch is like." Homura shuddered, seeming to be frightened just by thinking about it.

They parted ways at Homura's street and gave eachother a last goodbye. Then Homura walked the rest of the way home by herself. Her parents were currently away on business, and the idea of being in an empty house was scaring her a bit. Normally it didn't bother her, but after everything that happened today she was sure she was going to end up having nightmares. She decided to just make herself some tea and relax. She was also really nervous about school tomorrow. She wondered if Sayaka would be there, and dreaded the idea of having to confront her again.

She unlocked her front door and entered the dark house. She quickly ran to the lamp on the other side of the room, and sighed with relief once she turned it on and was no longer in the dark. Then she turned, and screamed: There was someone in her house! Standing right infront of her! It was Sayaka!

Sayaka grabbed her by the shoulders and slammed her against the wall. "AH! WHAT DO YOU WANT!" Homura screamed, "Let me go!" Homura didn't make any effort to break away from Sayaka's hold. She just shut her eyes tightly and cowered away.

"Look." Sayaka said coolly, "I can't even begin to tell you how messed up my day has been, and I'm about out of patience. Now you better start explaining what the HELL is going on here!"

"I-I-I d-don't know w-what your-"

Sayaka started shaking her, "TALK DAMN IT!"

"I don't know what you want!" Homura screamed, tears starting to run down her cheeks. "J-just leave me alone! P-p-please!"

"You have the answers I need! So transform already and talk to me!"

"I don't know what that means!"

Then Sayaka raised her hand and slapped Homura across the face, "Transform!" she slapped her again, "Tell me what the hell you DID!" She slapped her a third and a fourth time, Homura just took each blow with a painful cry. Finally Sayaka grabbed her by both shoulders and tossed her to the ground. Her glasses fell off and hit the ground. The already cracked lense popped out of it's frame and skidded across the floor.

Homura started crawling away, whimpering and crying as she feebly tried to escape her attacker. "H-Help me!"

"I know you're the one who is behind all this!" Sayaka said as she walked over to her and reached down to grab her by her shirt. Homura put both arms over her face, she was crying.

"D-don't hurt me! Please!"

"Just… start… TALKING!" Sayaka swung her open palm at Homura's face once again, but this time, Homura used her forearm to block the impending blow. All of a sudden the whimpering and crying had stopped, and Homura just stared at Sayaka with narrow eyes.

"Would you mind getting the hell off of me?" Homura said, speaking in a cool dark voice. It took a moment for Sayaka to realize that her clothing had changed to her Magical Girl attire as well. Sayaka let her go and took a step back. Although Sayaka understood that Homura was no longer the same person who she had just been hitting, the sudden polarized change in attitude threw her off a bit.

As Homura stood, she brushed off her skirt. She then walked over to her glasses, her heels clicking against the tiled floor with each step. She picked up the glasses and the missing lense, then looked back to Sayaka with a raised eyebrow.

Sayaka grinned awkwardly, "Sorry about that."

Homura's expression darkened even more as she returned the glasses to her face and set the lense on the table. She then started walking towards Sayaka with slow, purposeful steps.

"Anyway…" Sayaka said, pointing at her, "I've got some questions for you! And you better start…" Homura reached behind her shield and produced a handgun as she continued walking in Sayaka's direction. "Whoa! Hey! Slow down a sec!" Sayaka said, waving her hands, but the next thing she knew the gun was firmly pressed underneath her chin, "H-Homura? C-come on, there's no need to-"

"Let me explain something to you." Homura said in a slow dry voice, "The only reason I never did something like this before, is because I didn't want to upset Madoka." Her eyes narrowed even further and a sinister smile hit her lips, "But in this timeline, it seems that Madoka doesn't really give a damn about you. Does she?" Her thumb pulled back on the hammer of the gun, and Sayaka flinched when she heard the gear click into place. "So… I guess that means the gloves are off."


	4. ЯUOᖷ: TƆA

**ЯUOᖷ: TƆA**

* * *

She had tried retreating back, but Homura matched each step until Sayaka's back was plastered against the wall with the gun still firmly against her throat.

"C-come on, you're not serious." Sayaka said, she could feel the steel of the gun's barrel pressing hard into her neck. Despite her racing heart, she tried to sound confident. "You're not going to use that thing!"

"I'd recommend not testing me on that." Homura's expression revealed nothing. "Right now you are the only person who knows my secret, and based off your performance today you are not trying very hard to _keep_ it a secret. Therefore, you're a problem, Sayaka Miki. What's more, you attacked me in my own home. I think I have every right to kill you."

"This is MY home!" Sayaka yelled, but her aggression quickly faded away when the gun pressed even harder into her throat and Homura's expression grew even darker. "OK! OK! Just calm down! Don't do anything crazy!"

The only sound Sayaka could hear was the thumping in her own chest, while Homura stood there with a hollow expression, just one finger pull away from ending her life.

All of a sudden Homura's lip raised in a darkly sardonic smile and she removed the gun from Sayaka's neck. She still kept its sights trained on her as she stepped back. "Go sit down over there." Homura said, gesturing over to the dining room table. "I've got some questions of my own that I want to ask."

Sayaka did as she was commanded, keeping her hands up at her sides with her fingers stretched out so Homura knew she wasn't trying anything. She wasn't sure if Homura was serious about using the gun or not, but she didn't want to find out. Besides, since she wasn't exactly a Magical Girl anymore herself, and didn't have use of her powers, her chances of winning against the psychotic ravenette were not very good.

Once Sayaka was seated, Homura went around to the other side of the table, but stayed on her feet and didn't take the gun off of Sayaka for even a moment. "So..." Homura said, her expression dark as ever, "Let's start with how much you know about all of this."

"I don't know anything!" Sayaka said, "Th-that's why I came here! So I could hopefully get some answers from you."

"How much do you remember from the last timeline?"

"Last timeline?" The phrasing confused Sayaka a bit, but it was pretty obvious she was referring to the first life. "Ok, well, everything up until..." Sayaka thought hard. Her memories of meeting Mami and fighting witches were pretty clear. As were her memories of Kyosuke and Hitomi. However, shortly after Hitomi confessed that she was also in love with Kyosuke everything started to get blurry. A vague memory of an argument with Madoka stuck out, but the next _clear_ memory she had was not until much later. "Um... the last thing I remember... I was with Kyoko, I think we were at a train station or something... and... and..." Something happened at that train station, but she couldn't remember what. "No… is that right?"

Homura waited patiently as Sayaka tried to gather her thoughts. Sayaka's eyes moved around as she continued to retrace her memories as far as she could go. Something about sitting next to Kyoko at a train station stuck out very clearly in her mind. What she was doing there, and everything leading up to that was a complete blur, however.

"I… I can't remember. I was just at a train station with Kyoko, but I can't remember anything after that... Next thing I know I was waking up in the hospital this morning with an extra set of memories."

"Extra set of memories?" Homura asked with a raised eyebrow. "What do you mean? Ah, never mind that for now. Let me ask another question. What do you know about SoulGems?"

"About SoulGems? What about them?" Sayaka asked with some irritation. Homura moved the gun forward and her eyes darkened. "Ok! Ok! Um, well, they are the source of our power, of course. And besides that, Kyubey lied to us about what they are exactly..." Sayaka's teeth gritted and she shook her head. "He never bothered to tell us we were actually trading our souls when we made a contract."

"Anything else?" Homura asked impatiently.

"What else is there? What do you want from me?"

"Hm... I see. Interesting."

"Is there something else I should know?" Sayaka asked.

"No, forget about it. Now, what you said about having an extra set of memories. What did you mean by that?"

"You mean it's not the same for you?" Sayaka asked.

"Just answer my question."

"W-well, I'm not one hundred percent sure, but I think I have your memories from before you transferred into our school. Um, I remember a car accident, and living at the hospital ever since then... and... mom died..." Tears started to form in the corner of Sayaka's eyes, but she tried to hold them back. "It's so strange, I feel like both lives are real, but... I know this isn't right." Sayaka forced the tears back and looked at Homura more aggressively. She suddenly stood up and slammed her hands down on the table. "You stole my life! I don't know how you did it but-"

Homura pulled the trigger.

Sayaka flinched back at the sudden loud bang from the pistol, but then became very still once again when Homura pulled back the hammer with her thumb and returned its focus on her. "I suggest you sit down, Sayaka Miki," Homura said. "Next time I have to pull this trigger, I'm putting a bullet in your shoulder. If I have to pull it a third time, it's going through your head."

Sayaka stared at her with wide, hate-filled eyes. She did not sit back down as she was asked. "You're the worst," she said, narrowing her eyes. "I don't know what it is that made you the way you are now, but here's what I do know. You are actually really weak, you always were. You…" Sayaka clicked her teeth, and rolled her eyes. A certain extra memory from her second life had come to her. "You damn weirdo."

Homura raised an eyebrow.

"Those dolls of yours. Remember them?"

Homura tried to hold back her reaction, and for the most part she succeeded, but there was still that twitch of her eyelashes, her back foot retreated ever so slightly, and there was a tightening of her lips.

Sayaka's eyes narrowed. She saw an opening in the otherwise brick-wall that was Homura Akemi, and took it as an opportunity to challenge her further. "Didn't think I would know about that? Did you? Yeah, I know all about the purpose of those creepy little dolls of yours.

"You use to imagine everyone around you said bad things about you while you were not listening. Even if it wasn't true, you wanted to believe it anyway. It's because you were envious of them, right? For having better lives than you? So, you wanted an excuse to hate them!" She remembered it too, after all, she only knew about that sad worthless side of Homura because in a certain way she had lived it herself. She created dolls to represent these things she imagined people would say about her, but the reality is that those nasty things the dolls would represent were actually things she thought of herself.

"Shut up." Homura said, her voice still completely controlled. "Quit wasting my time with this nonsense."

Although Homura did not show much of a reaction to it, Sayaka still had a good feeling having that bit of information put an edge on her. It was something nobody ever knew about, a dark little part of Homura Akemi which never existed in the world outside of her own personal space, and thus it could never be reflected back at her. Until today.

Sayaka grinned, thinking about how to capitalize on this and use it to her advantage… but… her grin faded, and rather than taunting Homura she just ended up feeling sad. The sadness did not come from the second life version of herself, it was the good old original Sayaka Miki who suddenly felt guilty. The girl who would create those dolls and cry herself to sleep every night was nothing like the girl across from her right now, but it still felt way too cruel to use such a sad story to try and hurt someone. Even if that someone was Homura Akemi, who Sayaka had major issues with even _before_ she stole her life.

"Anyway," Sayaka said, her tone becoming more tame. "I don't know what changed you from that girl you use to be, I guess becoming a Magical Girl had something to do with it, but when you transferred into our school you were nothing like that… nothing like _this_ version of me."

Homura stared her down for a long moment before saying, "I told you to take a seat."

Sayaka huffed out, already regretting not taking a more vicious jab at the dark Magical Girl. She began to lean forward to show some aggression, but looking at the barrel of the gun managed to subdue her, and after a moment of hesitation she grudgingly did as she was asked. She didn't think Homura would actually kill her in cold blood (although she _might_ ) but Sayaka certainly did not put it beyond her to simply shoot her in the shoulder. Sayaka didn't have access to her powers or her ability to block out pain, and she imagined being shot in the shoulder would _really_ hurt, so she'd like to avoid that.

Once Sayaka was seated, Homura nodded her head and pulled out a chair to take a seat herself. She then set the gun down on the table top. Sayaka could not help eying the weapon and mentally running through her odds of being able to snatch it up and turn it around on Homura.

"You don't have an extra set of memories the way I do," Sayaka said, "At least, not this… _half_ of you anyway. Right?"

"That is correct. It seems that you do indeed have some of my memories, but it is not quite the same for me. For you, it seems both halves are put into one consciousness. For me, we are separate. It seems the version of myself that is my original self only comes out when I am transformed into a Magical Girl. The rest of the time, I'm the version of myself that seems to have lived a life which parallels yours."

"Are you conscious when this other self is in control?" Sayaka asked.

Homura shook her head. "Well, vaguely. It's like standing inside a room with thick walls which block out sound, and looking through a foggy window. If I listen closely and look hard enough I can get a sense for what is going on outside, but I am not completely in sync with it. I can, however, take control at any time I wish. So any foolish ideas you have about ambushing me while my other half is in control should be forgotten."

"So, how did we end up here?" Sayaka asked, "You say you had nothing to do with it and… I think I believe you. But I am sure you have at least _some_ idea of what happened. Don't you?"

"I have a couple theories, yes." Homura said. She sat there as a dark figure across the table. There was something really creepy about the pigtails and cracked glasses. It was probably because her face and the way she spoke did not match someone who would make those fashion choices. The stuttering nervous version of herself it fit perfectly, when she was like this however, it just seemed way off.

In the background, Sayaka could hear the soft pitter patter of rain beginning to fall.

"Well, mind letting me in on them?" Sayaka eventually pressed on. "Your _theories_ , that is."

Homura seemed to think it over, her hand reached up and brushed a few loose strands of hair away from her face, but it did not seem she wanted to elaborate. "I'm afraid that would require revealing too many secrets that I would rather keep to myself. They are just theories anyway, mostly made up of guess work and with no evidence to back them up. So it's pointless to waste any time sharing them with you."

Sayaka huffed out, once again finding herself becoming incredibly frustrated. "Well, whatever this is, it's something that involves the two of us. So the two of us are the ones who are mostly likely to be able to find a way to fix it. That means we are going to need to cooperate. Ok?" When she saw the disinterested expression on Homura's face, she started to become worried.

Of course, why would Homura want to go back to the way things were? Sayaka knew first hand how lousy Homura's life was. Whether she was responsible for all of this or not, Sayaka could bet Homura was actually really happy about their lives getting switched around.

"So… a-any idea how to get switched back?" Sayaka asked, ignoring her previous thought for now, and hoping there was indeed a reason for Homura to want her old life back. She felt her mouth going dry. Dreading the next words to come out of Homura's mouth.

"I have no interest in doing such a thing." Homura watched Sayaka as her face went pale, but did not offer any compassion to her blue counterpart.

"Why not?" Sayaka asked, "I-I mean, you said yourself it's like you're locked in a room… and…"

"Not all the time, though. Besides, with things the way they are it will at least be far easier for me to keep you away from Madoka."

Sayaka gasped as she stood up, her eyes widened with fury once again. "What the hell is that suppose to mean!" She shouted.

"I'm surprised you need to ask that."

"She's my best friend!"

"You consistently put her into danger by taking her along on your sorry excuses for witch hunts," Homura said with a scolding voice, "You blindly caused her so much pain with your reckless behavior. Do you know how hard it was for her? Watching you destroy yourself?"

"Thats…"

"And on top of all of that, even after fully understanding how horrible the life of a Magical Girl is, you tried to pressure her into a making a contract just so you would not have to suffer this fate alone." Her eyes darkened. "Some _friend_ you are."

Sayaka sat back down, her arms fell limp on the table top. She had forgotten about all of that. She suddenly felt tears attacking the corners of her eyes, but she held her breath and concentrated on keeping them back. There is no way she was going to cry in front of _Homura Akemi_ of all people!

It was true, through. In her first life, when she found out what Kyubey had actually done to her, she ended up taking it out on Madoka. She said anything she could to hurt her, blaming Madoka for the pain she was in, accusing her of not caring, and much worse.

She remembered saying, " _I bet you're laughing at me, aren't you? Only an idiot would end up like this. That's what you're thinking. Right? Madoka!"_ She said that just because she knew it would make Madoka hurt… why did she do that? She didn't mean any of it and after she went off into the night, she instantly regretted saying such horrible things. She never apologized for it, though…

"I watched from the sidelines, unable to change a single thing." Homura said. "Now, things are different. You are out of the picture, and Madoka doesn't give a damn about you." Homura stood up, and retrieved her gun from the table top, but simply kept it at her side. Not pointing it at Sayaka for once. "Now, get out of my house. My other half still has some homework to finish."

Despite herself, Sayaka could not stop the tears from coming out after all. They rolled down her cheeks silently, but she managed to keep her voice steady. "You think I'm going to let you get away with this?" She said, just staring at the table top, trying to calm herself down.

Homura had no sympathy for her. "Let me tell you how things will work. You stay away from me, and you stay away from Madoka. If Madoka does try to talk to you, you just give her the cold shoulder and walk away. She is nothing to you now. Understand? You stay out of my way and accept this new life of yours and we will not have a problem."

Sayaka stood up, the chair shrieking against the floor as it was pushed out from under her and she shouted: "Oh yeah? And what if I don't!"

"Then I will kill you without hesitation. This is the only warning you are getting." She pointed the gun at Sayaka. "Now I'll tell you one last time… get out of _my_ house."

"Screw you!" Sayaka shouted in a choked voice, the emotions of the day finally fully catching up to her. "This is MY house! And Madoka is MY friend! You're the one who's NOTHING!" Sayaka pushed the table to the side as she motioned to lunge at her, "I swear I-"

Homura pulled the trigger. This time it was not a warning shot.

Sayaka screamed as she felt the impact against her shoulder. It rocked her whole body, knocking her back, and the force spun her around as she fell. She hit the ground hard and cried out in pain as her hand gripped below the bullet wound and squeezed; trying to numb some of it away.

She stared at the ground, saw red dripping down onto the floor along with her tears, and could hear the high heeled shoes of Homura's Magical Girl costume clicking against the ground as she approached her. She felt the tall shadow standing over her, lightning crack in the background, and there was a metallic click as Homura readied her weapon once again. Sayaka could only sit there and sob.

"D-damn you." Sayaka choked out, "Th-this isn't fair." She still had her SoulGem stuffed into her skirt pocket, but it would do her no good. She couldn't transform, or use magic to heal her wound. She didn't want to risk taking it out to try either, because the fact Homura did not bring up the fact it had turned into more of a _Grief_ Gem meant she must not have known.

"So, you really can't transform." Homura said, "That's good, otherwise I'm sure you would be stupid and I would end up having to kill you after all."

"Screw you," Sayaka choked out, "I swear I'm going to make you pay for this!"

"Shut up." Homura put a hand on Sayaka's shoulder, and Sayaka flinched at the touch. Then she felt a warmth coming over her arm as the bullet wound began to heal.

Sayaka looked at her from over her shoulder, with hatred in her eye. "What the hell are you doing? Get off of me."

"If that wound gets discovered by a teacher I don't trust that you wouldn't be stupid enough to let it slip I'm the one who did it to you. I doubt anyone would actually believe you, but the less connections there are between the two of us the better."

Sayaka aggressively knocked Homura's hand away as she stood up and turned around, retreating away from her as she did so. At least it was dark in the room, so Homura wouldn't see her tear stained face. "You really think Madoka's not going to figure you out? She's going to realize somethings wrong."

"You are probably right about that, but I will deal with it when that day comes."

"What the hell is your obsession with her anyway!" Sayaka yelled, "Why don't you just leave my friend alone!"

Homura's head tilted to the side, "There is no more I can say to you. I'm going to the kitchen now to find something to clean with. By the time I come back if you are not gone… well… I will need more than a rag to clean _that_ mess." With that, she turned on her heels and walked to the kitchen.

Sayaka felt her blood boiling, she just wanted to chase right after her and tackle her to the ground while she had her back turned. She wanted to at least scream something at her. All of the anger and frustration of her situation threatened a new wave of tears. The fact that all she could do in this situation was cry frustrated her even more. Alas, there really was nothing she could to.

She did not take Homura to be one for blind threats, and there was nothing she could do to her anyway. So she gritted her teeth and went for the front door.

She stopped with her hand on the doorknob, standing with the dark room that was once her own living room at her back. She came here for answers, but in the end she was walking away with nothing. What was she going to do now?

She could hear the rain outside, and realized she did not bring an umbrella. She looked to a tin cylinder placed by the coatrack a few paces away from the door, and saw a few umbrellas in it. She recognised all three of them. They were the same ones that were always in her home from her first life. The tin box too… if she were to stick her head inside it would smell rusty. Somehow, that is a piece of knowledge that stuck out from when she was a little girl.

She glanced over to the kitchen where she could see the light was on and could hear Homura banging around as she went through the cabinets.

"Just you wait." Sayaka said under her breath. "I swear I'm going to get my life back, and I'm going to make you pay for doing this to me."

She snatched up the dark blue umbrella which was always her favorite. This is the one she always use to take to school with her on rainy days in her first life. The second life version of herself who spent years in a hospital did not have a favorite umbrella.

She then marched out the front door and opened it as she stepped out into the rain. She left her proper home and her proper life behind for now, until she could come up with a plan.

* * *

The last time line may have been Sayaka Miki's first life, but if Homura were to use those terms it would be more like her _hundredth_ life. It may have been less, or it may have been a _lot_ more. She really had no idea. She stopped counting a long time ago.

Homura returned to the dining room with a wet rag to clean Sayaka's blood off the floor. She flipped on the light switch as she entered, then put the gun down on the table. She looked around, and could see that Sayaka had taken her advice and left. She was glad for that, but somehow doubted that was the last she would be seeing of Sayaka Miki.

She debated in her head how she should deal with her. She did not think Sayaka could be much use to her in this timeline, and since keeping her safe would matter much less to Madoka than in every previous timeline there was little reason to keep her around. Homura's eyes glanced back to the gun rather briefly. She could easily catch up with Sayaka and stage things to look like a mugging that had gone wrong… but...

No, she could not just kill Sayaka Miki. Not without good cause, at least. Her years of repeats may have turned her heart cold, but murder for the sake of convenience is a line she would like to guard herself against crossing. She had to retain at least some of her humanity - for Madoka's sake.

She bent down and got to work cleaning the mess, and when it was done she stood and carefully looked around the room for any more traces that may have sprayed away when the bullet collided. She didn't see anything, and figured it was ok.

She retrieved the gun from the table top, and then stored it inside her shield space. She had to keep any traces of herself hidden from her other half. She figured simply stuffing the bloodied rag far down into the kitchen garbage can would be sufficient to keep that hidden from her.

Before she made it back to the kitchen, however, her phone began to ring. She folded the rag so the soiled end was on the inside, and then set it on the table as she went over to the phone. She looked at the number on the caller I.D. and recognised it as Madoka.

The smart thing to do would be to just let it go to voicemail, and let her other half call back later. However, she wanted to hear Madoka's voice.

In this new timeline, she may have been closer to Madoka than ever before, but this half of her was always trapped inside that metaphorical room and did not get to talk to Madoka the way the clumsier version of herself did. This half is the one who suffered years and years of repeats. It wasn't fair that she was always kept on the outside, and she wanted to just hear Madoka's voice with her own ears for a change.

She picked up the phone, "Hello?"

"Hey Homura-chan, I just wanted to remind you about the algebra test tomorrow. Um, I was worried that because of everything that happened today you might forget about it end up not studying."

"Oh, thank you Madoka," Homura said, trying to soften her voice enough to sound more like the dorky moé version of herself. She wasn't sure if she was actually pulling it off, though. "You're right, I may have forgotten about that."

"Um… T-today was really crazy, wasn't it?"

Homura paused, then said, "Yes… it was."

"When those things started coming after us, I was really scared, but Miss. Tomoe was so amazing! Wasn't she?"

There was another long pause before Homura simply said, "Yes." her hand tightening on the phone.

"I- uh… and then Kyubey offered me that contract… I… still don't know what to do about it. But I suppose if it gives me a chance to help-"

"You shouldn't accept his contract, Madoka." Homura said, fully slipping out of the role she was not doing very good with in the first place. Then she quickly corrected it and softened her tone. "I mean, it seems rather dangerous, doesn't it?"

"Homura?" she paused, "Well, that's true… but, it's not like I am very special in any other ways, so if I could be like Mami and have powers I can use to help people… That would be a good thing to do, right?" Homura took a long time to respond, until it seemed Madoka was not sure if she was still there at all, "Homura-chan?"

This is the first time in many many timelines where she had an opportunity to have a nice casual conversation with Madoka, simply as a friend from school. In this new life she did not get many chances to speak to Madoka as herself, as it was her other half who was usually in control. Finally, she had that chance, but once again it was just turning into the same old tired dialog, trying to convince Madoka not to contract. All she ever wanted was to have a normal life with Madoka by her side, but no matter what, things always seemed to come back to this. It wasn't fair!

"Madoka… I…" she felt a tear roll down her cheek, "I don't want you to change. I like the way you are right now… can't you just stay like that?"

"Homura-chan? Um…" She paused. "I'm sorry, I didn't think you felt so strongly about it."

"And, I... don't want to see anything bad happen to you."

They were quiet for a while, then Madoka gave her a small laugh. The next words she spoke were words Homura never thought she would hear, and it lifted her spirits to the sky. "Ok then, I wouldn't want you to worry… so, I definitely won't accept the contract in that case. Alright, Homura-chan?"

"Really?"

"Of course. Besides that, you can't do it too, and I certainly wouldn't want to leave my best friend behind. And… it _is_ scary too… Actually, I'm kind of relieved now that you talked me out of it. I was feeling a little worried about the whole thing to be quite honest with you."

Homura smiled, her depressed tears becoming somewhat happier. "Thank you, Madoka."

"Hey, um… your voice is a little off. You aren't getting sick, are you?"

"Maybe, my throat does feel a little funny," Homura lied.

"Oh, well don't forget to study for that test, but make sure you get plenty of rest too! Do you have medicine?"

"Yes, I have something that can help."

"Good, make sure you take it."

"I will, Madoka."

"Well, I actually should get started on my homework as well… see you at school tomorrow! Homura-chan!"

"Yes, see you tomorrow... Madoka." Homura smiled as she ended the call.

She put down the phone and then retrieved the blood soaked rag from the table top and brought it to the kitchen, then she stuffed it deep down into the garbage where it would not be found.

It seemed that this new timeline really was going to be better after all. She still might not get the opportunity to truly be with Madoka, but at least Madoka was more likely to listen to her now. There were some inconveniences, but for the first time in an uncountable number of loops, she was feeling hopeful once again.

She did not know how all of this happened, but there were only two possibilities she could think of to explain it.

The first is that a wish was made which resulted in her and Sayaka's lives being switched. The only person who possibly could have made such a wish was Madoka, but Homura did not know why she would do that. It's possible their lives getting switch was an unintended consequence of whatever Madoka had wished for, she supposed. But what could such a wish have been?

The second theory, and the theory she liked much more, is that it was her own wish which eventually resulted in this.

" _I wish to redo my meeting with Kaname-san, but instead of her protecting me, I want to be the one who protects her!"_

Simply given the ability to travel back in time may have allowed her to redo her meeting with Madoka, but in the end she was never able to properly protect her. Homura did not know exactly how wishes came to be, or what forces were behind them, but it's possible the wish adjusted itself to make her more able to protect Madoka as she wanted. The conversation she just had with Madoka spoke strongly toward helping this theory.

The biggest thing working against this theory: why was Sayaka conscious of the switch? Why was she still technically a Magical Girl in terms of the condition of her soul, but couldn't seem to utilize any of her powers? Homura did not know.

With everything cleaned up, she then took the glasses off her face and examined the damage. She grabbed the cracked lense from the tabletop and held it against the frame, then used a little bit of magic to fix it. This kind of magic was not her specialty, but something as simple as attaching a lense was no problem. When she was done, she examined her work and felt happy with it, then returned them to her face.

She walked over to the refrigerator where there was a dry erase board with a couple markers stationed next to it with magnets keeping them in place. She took the purple one and wrote ' _Algebra test tomorrow - don't forget to study!'_ , and circled it.

With that done, she walked upstairs to the bathroom and started running a bath. She looked at herself in the mirror. Her face was that same battle worn and tired face she always had. Her hair done up in long pigtails and the red rimmed glasses did not match it at all. She tried adjusting her expression; smiling, letting her eyes become doey, but no matter how she moved her face she couldn't quite make herself look right.

She removed the glasses and set them on the sink, pointing them towards the bathtub so her other half would see them the moment she regained control. If she retained her memories of Sayaka attacking her, then seeing the glasses which should have had a missing lense sitting there in one piece would convince her those memories were just a dream and Sayaka was never here at all.

Homura started removing her clothes. Every time she took something off it would transform back into the corresponding article of her school uniform. She folded everything neatly and placed the pile on top of the toilet seat, then waited a few more minutes for the bath to finish.

She climbed in, slowly lowering herself down into the warm water. She seated herself with her head resting back in a way so that she would stay seated up and not sink down into the water if there was a moment of unconsciousness between the switch. Then she closed her eyes, found that mental doorway, and retreated into the room with the foggy windows.

Homura gasped as her eyes opened and she sat up in the tub. She crossed her arms over her chest and glanced around anxiously. She took note of the glasses on the sink, then looked down at herself. "Oh… I must have fallen asleep in the bath…" She said with a sigh.

She didn't remember getting into the bath, but she did vaguely recollect talking to Madoka on the phone for a little while… or was that just part of her dream?

She took a closer look at the glasses. She also had a much more vivid dream of being attacked by Sayaka when she got home. It was one of those dreams that was so clear, now that she was awake she had a moment of not being able to tell if it really was real or not. Of course, it had to be fake though.

She could see the bar of soap had not been used yet. "I must have been really tired," she said to herself, then she took the soap and started cleaning herself.

* * *

On the other side of town, Sayaka eventually made it back to her new home. She could not _really_ call it a home, though. A home is somewhere where you belonged, and this is certainly not where she belonged. She tossed the soaked umbrella to the side, then slogged over to the kitchen. She wasn't really hungry, but she knew she had to eat, so she made a pack of instant noodles and forced it down. Then she remembered in this new life she had medication she was suppose to take.

She had homework she needed to do too. Being forced into a foster home or sent back to the hospital would only make her situation worse, so she knew she had to keep up with things.

After taking her medicine, she set up her books on the coffee table and turned on the TV. She took out her SoulGem and set it on the table away from her workbooks. It was back to normal now.

She watched the soft blue glow, wondering why it had shifted into that cursed looking thing earlier today. And why was it back to normal now? It's as if it had done that just long enough to cause Mami, her friend, to turn her back on her and end up forcing her to stay alone again. Even Madoka would probably be afraid of her now.

She touched the pencil down to the paper and got to work.

When she was all done with her homework, she just left everything spread out on the table. She then laid on her side on the couch, and curled up into a ball. She stared at the TV, though she was not actually watching it. She did not want to go sleep in her bedroom, because for some reason she felt like the couch in front of the TV was just a little less lonely than that empty room.

She eventually closed her eyes. Tears pushed through and dampened her eyelashes as she tried to let herself drift off to sleep.

* * *

 **Thanks you for reading! I know it has been forever since this has updated, but lately I've been feeling inspired to continue this story. It won't take a full year for another update, anyway. (Maybe updates to this will become frequent)**

 **I am now on Twitter. Follow me at /Atomyst_Fics or find a direct link in my profile.**

 **I give weekly updates of my writing progress through twitter every Thursday morning, so even if you don't have an account you can check that out if you want an idea of what stories will be updating next.**

 **Thanks again for reading!**

 **-Atomyst**


	5. ƎVIᖷ :TƆA

**ƎVIᖷ :TƆA**

* * *

Sayaka stared at the ceiling, listening to the insistent beeping of her alarm from the other room. She had slept, _or tried to sleep_ , on the couch in the living room the previous night. She figured she must have gotten at least _some_ sleep, but never quite reached that deep nourishing level of sleep which her body really needed. Throughout the night she kept finding herself on her feet again, pacing around, or just staring at the TV. She tried laying down in the actual bedroom, thinking an actual bed might help after all, but that horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach was so much worse in there for some reason.

Now it was morning and she sat up on the couch, clutching her hands over her ears and growling in frustration. Even sitting up felt like an effort to her right now. She was so exhausted, and she wished that stupid alarm would just shut up on its own. "Come on Sayaka," she whispered to herself. "You can do this."

That sorry excuse for a pep talk somehow managed to do the job and convince her legs to straighten and stand up. She then walked to the bedroom and slammed her hand down on the alarm to silence it. She had a passing urge to rip it away from the wall and smash it on the ground, but managed to resist.

She let out an irritated sigh and slogged her way over to the bathroom, where she found herself staring into the mirror for a while. It was her face, she was Sayaka Miki, but everything else around her was wrong. Her best friend did not know her, one of her worst enemies was living in her house, Mami wanted to kill her… everything was just _so_ wrong!

"Good morning, Sayaka Miki," said a familiar voice from behind her.

She sighed. _About time._

Sayaka folded her arms over her chest, as she was wearing only a simple white T-shirt she had slept in, then turned to face the incubator.

He sat on top of the radiator, just staring at her with those empty eyes and that curt little smile of his. How is it that it took her so long to see this _thing_ for the hollow inhuman creature it truly was?

"I was wondering when you would show your face," she said to him.

"That's odd, I expected that you would be more surprised. Usually when I reveal myself to someone for the first time their initial reaction is that they might be _going crazy,_ or suffering from some other form of mental illness. Humans have a tendency to jump to such wild conclusions."

"Well to be fair, it certainly _feels_ like I'm going crazy," Sayaka sighed. "Anyway, I was hoping I would run into you. Do you have any explanation for what's going on?"

"That is a rather broad question. However, I came here hoping to seek answers from _you_. I also attempted to get some information from the alternate personality of Homura Akemi but… well, you saw the results of that endeavor yesterday."

Sayaka thought back to when she caught Homura disposing of Kyubey's mangled corpse at the mall yesterday. She humorously came to the realization that their mutual distaste for the little rodent was about the only thing she and Homura had in common.

"It was so unnecessary and irrational. She seems to understand that destroying my body does no good, but still insists on doing it over and over again."

"Whatever," Sayaka said, feeling herself growing even more irritated. "So what _do_ you know?"

"All I know is that Homura Akemi is a Magical Girl even though I have never made a contract with her, and you seem to have an abnormal situation with your SoulGem, while likewise never making a contract with me. Furthermore, this is my first time speaking to you, but you seem to already know who I am. It is all very peculiar."

Sayaka peeked out of the bathroom to check on her SoulGem which she left on the coffee table. The last time she spoke to Kubey (in her first life) he had done something to it that had put her into agonizing pain, and she felt just a little nervous with it being exposed around him like this. It looked normal though, no strange curses or casing on it. Just an ordinary SoulGem, but since it did not offer her any powers it was basically just a worthless decoration.

"I overheard you and Homura Akemi talking last night."

"You mean you were spying on us."

"So, you and Homura's other half are from another world it would seem. Or at least the two of you have a mutual agreement that is the case. You claim to have been living each other's lives in this alternate world ."

" _This_ world is the fake one," said Sayaka, assertively. "This is the world where we are living each other's lives, and the last world is the way things are suppose to be."

"Even if you say that, from my point of view this is the only world there is. Therefore I have to treat this one as the true world and the other as an alternate."

"Do you know a way for me to return to that alternate world?" Sayaka asked.

"I'm afraid not, but perhaps if I had some information on how this switch occurred in the first place I might be able to theorize a possible solution."

"Well if you listened to our conversation last night you know I have no idea how the switch occurred. However, my best guess so far is that Homura had tricked Madoka into wishing for something that caused this."

"Well Madoka Kaname certainly would have had the potential to make something like that happen. For now I would say that theory is as good as any. It also opens up a path for how you might return to this other world." Sayaka's eyes widened at him. "Simply find a way of convincing Madoka Kaname to wish for you to return to your other world. Or your original life, if you prefer that term."

"No way," Sayaka said, raising a fist at him. "You expect me to just do your dirty work for you?"

"Well, I doubt you would actually be able to pull it off. Madoka Kaname is unfamiliar with you so it is unlikely that she will use her one and only wish to help a complete stranger."

"She's not a stranger!" Sayaka yelled, "She's my best friend! And I'm not letting her make a contract with you either way! I'm not letting you turn her into some living doll like you did to me in the last world!"

"Then I suppose you will just be stuck in this second life of yours." Kyubey jumped down from the radiator and walked out of the bathroom. Sayaka followed him, but after losing sight of him for only a moment he was suddenly nowhere to be seen. Her eye's searched around the living room for where he could have gone.

"What about my SoulGem?" Sayaka yelled into the empty house. "How come it changed yesterday when I was talking with Mami? What was the deal with that!"

She could not see Kyubey but she could still hear his voice inside her head. " _I do not have an answer. It seems that is another mystery for you, Sayaka Miki. Goodbye for now."_

Sayaka grunted as she ran through the apartment, throwing open doors and looking for the little rat, but he was already long gone.

"Damn it," she cursed, punching the inside of a doorframe, then shaking her hand to sooth away the pain on her knuckles and already feeling her heart racing from that brief moment of activity. _Damn, this body is weak._

* * *

Sayaka watched with groggy eyes as the city bus appeared from around a corner down the street. She had managed to force down a little cereal, though she had zero appetite, and she currently held a coffee in her hand which she got from the corner store on her way to the bus stop. The caffeine may have been helping the fuzziness in her head somewhat, but she still felt like garbage.

She cringed as the bus squealed to a stop in front of her, then let out a sigh as she stepped on board. She dug through her skirt pocket for a bus pass Mrs. Fushida had left behind for her. After swiping it over the small scanner by the driver the display showed that she had nine trips worth of credits left. Her eyes lifted up to the bus driver to say good morning, or to thank him, but when he just continued staring forward without acknowledging her she sighed and started looking for a seat.

She had never taken a morning bus like this before, and she already found herself hating it. There were people on the bus, but none of them seemed to be in very good moods. The lighting was bad, and there was only some small chatter from a few people towards the back. Compared to the mornings from her first life - messing around with Hitomi and Madoka as they all walked to school together - the scene on the bus was rather depressing.

She got through it, though. She felt lonely, and the one person who _did_ try to start a conversation with her she thought would be better to just brush off, as it was an older man with a dirty face and an odd look in his eyes. She was careful about turning her back to him when it was time for her to get off, being careful to keep him in her peripheral vision until she was out of arm's reach. Groper stories were more common on packed trains, but she supposed it could happen here too, and she was already in the frame of mind that everything that could go wrong _would_.

From the place the bus let her off she still had a short walk to the school. She would be approaching the entrance from the opposite direction she use to; the way which Madoka, Hitomi, and the _life stealer_ would currently be walking. She wondered if crossing paths with them would be a good thing or a bad thing. Well, chances are that would not happen, as she was running a bit early. On a normal day her small clique always just barely made it through the doors of the school as the bell rang; laughing and giggling with each other as they did so.

She suddenly thought she really hoped she _did not_ see them. If she saw Homura having a good time with her friends instead of her, she would probably have a hard time containing her emotions. Even if that doey eyed version of Homura had nothing to do with all of this, Sayaka couldn't help the way she felt. Watching that girl live the life she was suppose to have wasn't fair!

Sayaka sighed as she glanced back at the disappearing bus. Is the Homura who lived her current life the tough one who Sayaka was familiar with, or the stuttering nervous-wreck version of the ravenette? It didn't matter. All that mattered is that this world is the one where everything was wrong, and it was only right to try and turn things back to how they were suppose to be. There was nothing selfish about that!

Only… she had no clue of how to go about doing that in the first place. Not even a small inkling of a plan, unless she were to count getting Madoka to use her wish for that purpose, which she already decided she would never do.

She entered the school grounds, went to her locker to exchange what books she would need for the first few periods, then went straight to class. She was in her seat for a few minutes before the warning bell rang, which signaled students only had five more minutes to get to class and take their seats.

A few minutes later her friends came through the door. She lifted her head to catch them sharing a few words, until both Madoka and Homura noticed her and stopped talking. Hitomi apparently did not notice and continued with whatever she was saying. Sayaka let her gaze fall back to her desk top.

Madoka stopped as they passed by and said, "Good morning Sayaka."

Sayaka's head lifted back up. "Good morning," she said, uncertainly.

"Let's have a good day, ok?" Madoka said with her usual cheery smile.

"Um… yeah!" Sayaka answered, a smile managing to touch her own lips.

 _Thanks Madoka, I needed that._

The moment didn't last, though. Homura pulled on Madoka's hand, and quickly guided her towards their seats at the back of the class. Sayaka turned her head to see Homura anxiously whispering something to Madoka as they went, undoubtedly something bad about her, and Sayaka once again found herself angered by her black-haired counterpart. At least, she _wanted_ to be angry, but the truth is she actually just felt depressed all over again.

* * *

The day ticked by slowly. She had trouble paying attention, and occasionally had to give her head a shake to keep her eyes from wanting to close. She found that there was at least one advantage to this second life, though, and that was that she already knew all the material the teachers were going over. At least she would be able to save some time on studying while she tried to figure out what her next move was.

Lunch was lonely. Apparently the clique of girls who had bothered her yesterday had deemed her too uninteresting to come pester today. That was one good turn of events, at least. She still did not have much of an appetite, but forced the food down anyway.

Gym turned out to be the worst class of the day. She became dizzy just from doing stretches at the beginning of class. The gym teacher must have noticed her face had gone pale, and ordered her to just sit off to the side for the day.

The last class of the day was math and when they were given a worksheet to complete Sayaka managed to finish it faster than anyone else and had herself a few free moments. She took out a blank sheet of paper and started writing a note. This would be the first time she got to take advantage of that slight insignificant perk her second life offered her. It was a short message, and when it was done she folded it up and stuffed it into her skirt pocket.

When the bell rang, signaling the end up the day, Sayaka stood up right away and walked over to Madoka, ignoring the uneasy stare Homura was giving her. She just stood in front of them and held the note out to Madoka. "Here."

"Oh… for me?" Madoka asked as she took it.

"No, it's for Mami. I was hoping you could give it to her for me."

"Sure, that's no problem."

"Thank you," Sayaka said, bowed her head, and then turned her back on them. She decided it would be best to engage with Homura as little as possible. She didn't trust herself not to say or do something that would make this situation even worse. Hopefully she would get another chance to speak to Madoka alone sometime soon.

As she walked away she heard Hitomi ask, "Mami?"

"Um… we'll tell you about her later," Madoka answered.

Sayaka grabbed her school bag from beside her desk, and started with the lonely walk back to the bus stop which would take her back to her home that was not her home.

The letter she had written for Mami was brief. It simply explained that she understood why Mami didn't trust her, but to at least believe her on one thing. Sayaka wrote a description of the witch Mami may be fighting against in a few days (if this life did indeed coincide with her first life), and warned of its second form. She told her not to let her guard down once she defeated the smaller version.

She was sure that would be enough to save Mami. The only reason Mami had lost the first time around was because of that witch's trick. Even if Mami did not trust her, surely she would take the warning seriously once she saw that Sayaka had not only predicted the witch's location but what it would look like as well. Sayaka also hoped that note would be enough to convince Mami to listen to her more calmly next time they meet. The last time they crossed paths was a disaster.

She sighed as she extended her fingers and looked at her SoulGem ring. This thing was another mystery she had no way of solving. What did it mean when it started taking on characteristics of a GriefSeed? Why did that happen? And what if it happened again? Besides all of that… why couldn't she use her powers?

Another thought had been lingering in her mind which she did not dare to confront. What would happen if she walked away from it? In her past life it was proven that her SoulGem was in fact the container for her soul; a rather important detail Kyubey had left out when he tricked her into signing his contract. Except, she wasn't really herself in this new life she was living. Maybe this gem didn't actually belong to her anymore? Only… Homura's existence in this new life, and the completely different set of rules her SoulGem seemed to take on for her discredited any theory Sayaka could come up with.

She felt her heart starting to beat faster, anxiety creeping up on her. If she did not calm herself down she would start to feel dizzy again, and risk passing out. This was all just so frustrating though! None of it made any sense, and she did not even have any leads to go on. It all just felt so hopeless.

She reached the bus stop and sat down on the curb. She closed her eyes and focused on controlling her breathing. Why was this happening to her? Why did she have to be taken away from her normal life, and why did she have to be trapped in this stupid _weak_ body!

She set her school bag next to her and put her hands over her face, reminding herself she still needed to calm down. How could she calm down, though? This was all just so horrible!

After a few deep controlled breaths she did manage to bring herself back to a more neutral state. Her head still ran through all the angles of this second life, trying to make sense of it, though it did not actually do her much good. That idea about how distance would affect her SoulGem still lingered in the back of her mind…

She was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard the bus screeched to a stop in front of her. She looked up, just staring inside the open door. She could find out about her SoulGem pretty easily if she were to set it down on the curb and then board the bus. That would be suicide, of course, and she certainly did not have enough proof that the distance thing _wouldn't_ work to actually attempt something that crazy.

The driver turned to her with an annoyed look on his face and asked, "Are you getting on or what?"

"Oh! Y-yes!" She quickly got her bag around her shoulder as she stood and climbed on board.

* * *

Once she got back to her apartment the exhaustion she had felt all day finally caught up with her in a more undeniable way. Simply imagining putting her head on a pillow had her body crying out for her to do just that. As soon as her body flopped down on the couch her eyes shut without protest and she instantly felt her mind wandering off in that disjointed way which usually preceded sleep.

She dreamed about Madoka. A younger version of her, wearing a cute pink dress, but she was sitting on the ground and crying. Her knee was scraped pretty badly. That was a memory from when the two of them were younger and she got hurt while they were playing. In reality, in Sayaka's first life, she had Madoka climb up on her shoulders and she piggy-backed her home. In this dream she tried to reach down and grab Madoka's hand, but the further she reached the further Madoka would sink away until Sayaka was running after her, but she just kept sinking further and further into a black pit until she was gone and Sayaka was all alone again.

Then she heard a voice. It was her own voice, but it was not really her. Or at the least, she did not want it to be her. _"I bet you're laughing at me, aren't you? Only an idiot would end up like this. That's what you're thinking. Right? Madoka!"_

"I'm sorry!" Sayaka screamed out, as she sat in the blackness all alone. In her first life that was the very last thing she could remember saying to Madoka before…

...before what?

Then, she could hear music.

She saw a silhouette, arms raised above it's head which was shaped like a heart. Or, at least there was something heart-shaped behind it's head. She squinted her eyes but she could not make it out, but she caught a glimmer of light on three metal rims. When she closed her eyes and opened them again, it was gone, and she was somewhere else.

She was sitting between her parents in an auditorium, watching Kyosuke on stage with his violin, and she remembered that as the moment she first found herself falling in love with him.

" _You should crush him." A menacing grin._ " _Break his legs and smash all of his fingers. Make him as useless as possible so he can't survive without you."_

She looked to her left and then to her right. Her parents were gone. When she tried to look back up at the stage she just saw a heart monitor, beeping over and over again. The violin from the previous string of the dream still existed in the background, though the strokes of the notes it created started to become more violent.

" _I don't need this!"_ Kyosuke's voice echoed inside her head. " _I don't need any of it!"_ A hand smashed down on a cd player. There was an eruption of red liquid which overtook the scene, and the music stopped.

...

" _Am I always going to be this way?"_ She asked herself, now staring at her own pale face in a mirror. Past her own face she saw dolls with glowing red eyes Their features were silhouetted by shadows as they all sat atop one another and watched her. When she turned around to look at them they were gone, and she found herself staring at something else. It was that thing she had saw before, but now it was more clear to her.

A giant figure with a steel body. It's mask had three dark holes for eyes, each of which seemed oddly focused yet at the same time unable to see anything at all; like bugs eyes. There was a dark blue cape upon its back which looked as if it had been blowing in the wind until something had frozen it in place. It's arms were the same way. It's fists were clenched and raised above it's head, as if it had been madly ranting and raving about something. Actually, it was more like it had been letting off a battle cry before running into battle, as one of it's hands held a large sword.

Sayaka then could see a series of runic lettering, but they did not exist physically along with this creature. It was more that she simply saw them inside her own head. At first she did not know what they meant, until she thought harder and they revealed a name: _Oktavia von Seckendorff_. It was not any language she had ever seen before. How could she understand it?

She looked closer at the creature and she noticed a series of tiny red pins were stuck all over it. Somehow she got the impression that those red pins were to blame for why it was frozen in place like that. She felt quite disturbed by the sight and did not want to see it anymore. She closed her eyes and turned away, now walking into darkness and leaving the creature behind.

When she opened her eyes again the creature was long gone, and she was instead in a much more familiar place. She put a hand to her heart and smiled, because she was in her own home (her _real_ home), standing in her living room.

Then, she heard a familiar voice. "Sayaka-chan! We're waiting for you!"

She turned around and saw Madoka sitting on the couch. Mami was standing behind with her hands up on the headrest, and even Hitomi and Kyosuke were there. "What?" Sayaka asked, "What are you guys-?"

"Hurry up!" said someone else, and then Sayaka noticed a certain redhead sitting on another chair, legs folded underneath her, a game controler in her hands and a pocky stick between her grinning teeth. "I'm going to beat you this time!" Sayaka looked over to the TV and saw a racing game was paused.

Was all of that stuff about her changing lives with Homura just a dream? Was she back to her real life?

"Come on rookie!" said Kyoko again.

She felt really happy to see everyone here, but why was Kyoko here too? The two of them had sort of become friendly, but it is not like she would invite her over her house.

"Welcome home, Sayaka-chan! We're waiting for you!" Madoka said again.

Sayaka then took notice of how they were all staring at her. It was unnatural how their eyes were all focused on her, and once she took note of that their expressions faded and became more neutral. Mami should not have been here either. Sayaka loved her and would be happy to see her, but in the real world she was already dead. Therefore… she hadn't made it back home after all. She was still dreaming.

"Sayaka-chan," said Madoka once again, now with a static neutral tone of voice. "Welcome back home. We were waiting for you."

Sayaka looked all around. "Where's Homura?" she asked.

All of them answered at once. Hitomi, Kyosuke, Madoka, Mami, and Kyoko. All in a disturbing static voice.

" _WHAT ABOUT HER?"_

Sayaka stepped back, her mouth fell open and she watched as their eyes all started glowing red. These were not her friends.

"Who are you!" she shouted at them. They continued to stare at her, but after a moment she realized they were not actually staring at her anymore. They were now looking through her, at something behind her, and she heard the front door to the house behind her beginning to creak.

She spun around to face the door, and as she did so the entire room blurred and began to drip away. The furniture, the walls, the windows; they all turned into water colors which washed down to the floor and disappeared. All that was left was the door, completely black, and as it creaked open a bright ray of light shone through the crevice. The sharp contrast to the pitch-black surroundings made the darkness she stood in even feel even more consuming. When the door was fully open she felt a pulse of energy, and a dark figure with long hair and black wings stood inside the light, grinning at her wickedly.

Sayaka gasped as she jolted awake, and glanced around like a cornered animal.

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Mrs. Fushida from behind her. "Did I wake you?"

Sayaka turned around to see her standing in the front door. "N-no, it's alright." She felt rather dull, her consciousness still dragged behind with one foot lingering in her dream world. Though what she had seen while she was there had left an impression on her it was already faded and becoming vague. Just a few fleeting images were left behind with context which was hard to grasp.

"Do you usually nap in the afternoons?" Fushida asked as she then walked to the kitchen. "I could try to work in another time to come over. I only have to pop in like this on a regular basis while you are still getting settled. Once I see you have adjusted I will be able to give you a little more space."

Sayaka looked over to the kitchen doorway which Fushida had just disappeared through. She closed her eyes tightly and reopened them to try to shake some of the confusion away. She heard cabinets being opened and then got up to go look at what she was doing.

"What did you have for dinner last night?" Fushida asked as she looked through the fridge.

"I…" She actually had not eaten at all last night. She had only eaten a little cereal this morning and then the school lunch at school this afternoon, both of which she practically had to force down as she has had zero appetite. "Um, I went to the mall yesterday."

Fushida smiled. "Oh, that's nice. After I left?"

Sayaka nodded. "Yeah."

"What did you have?"

Sayaka raised an eyebrow, honestly feeling a little offended by this kind of scrutiny. "Just some fast food," she lied, wondering why it is she even bothered. It's not like this was her life in the first place, she was just stuck with it until she could find a way to put things back to normal.

"When were you planning to go shopping?"

"Tomorrow maybe. I've felt a little tired lately, honestly."

"Can't blame you there," said Fushida. "That's why I stocked you with enough to last you the first few days. Please try to avoid fast food though, I am not an expert on your medical condition but I imagine proper nutrition is important for you." She glanced at the clock on the stove. "Did you take your medication today?"

"Yes, um…" she closed her eyes and thought for a moment. Was she suppose to take it again at night? Yes, she was. "I normally take the second dosage after dinner."

"Ok, as long as you are keeping up with it. So, how is school going?" she asked as she left the kitchen and started walking through the apartment.

"Fine," said Sayaka, though that was a total lie. School was horrible and she never felt more lonely in her life; having lived her previous life and knowing who she was suppose to be.

"Bet you're making a lot of friends already, huh?" she asked as she opened the bedroom door and stared for a while. She glanced over to the couch and back to the bed, probably wondering if Sayaka hadn't slept there or was just in the habit of making her bed in the morning. Sayaka was ethically opposed to making the bed, so the former was true.

Making friends? "Not really…"

"Well don't worry about it. A cute girl like you will be popular in no time. They just need to get to know you." Fushida turned to give her a wink but then saw the distressed look on Sayaka's face.

She already had friends who knew her. Or, at least, that is how things were _suppose_ to be. The truth is, not only did she not make new friends in her first couple days at school, she had actually lost some. Not just _some_ ; she has lost _every_ friend she ever had, and that thought forced water to touch her eyes.

"Sayaka?" Fushida asked with a concerned voice. Sayaka almost wished she hadn't, because now having it confronted forced it out of her more fully, and she quickly put a hand over her face. She tried to stifle a small whimper, but it was already too late to stop. "Hey, Sayaka," Fushida said, walking towards her.

Unexpectedly, she felt Fushida's arms go around her and hug her into her body. _Please don't,_ she thought, but could not help just accepting it. In her first life, her _real_ life, she had friends who she could go to with her problems. She had her best friend who she had been like sisters with her entire life, Madoka. In this life all she had was this woman who seemed pretty nice but was basically a stranger to her. A stranger who was just taking pity on her. Still, it was something.

"Come on now, why are you doing that? You should be happy, you finally got out of that hospital, didn't you? That's what you wanted, right?"

Sayaka shook her head inside Fushida's embrace. "I didn't want any of this!"

Fushida took a moment to respond, then put her hand on the back of Sayaka's head and stroked her hair. "Of course you didn't."

"It-it's not fair! Why are things like this!"

Her hands fell to Sayaka's shoulders, she outstretched her arms to put some distance between them so she could look Sayaka in the eyes. Sayaka felt embarrassed to have her face seen like this, all red and puffy with tears rolling down her cheeks. Somehow, the warm smile Fushida gave her made it ok, though. "Of course it isn't fair. Life's just like that for some people. Guess what? You're one of them."

"What?" Sayaka asked, her depressed expression becoming perplexed. What kind of thing is _that_ to say?

Fushida just smiled. "Life can be cruel and random. You can look for a reason for it, or try to find something to blame. That is kind of pointless though, don't you think? You are dealt what you are dealt and you just have to deal with it. There are things you can not change, but there are other things that you can. Like you being here right now. Some people in your situation would never have left that hospital, but you did. You gave yourself that future, and you are in a better place now. Just keep doing the same and your life will keep getting better."

Sayaka sighed, and let her eyes sink to the side. "You don't get it." How could she? Sayaka had no way of explaining that the girl in the hospital who Fushida thought she was is not her at all. It was someone else's life which she was now stuck living. Also, that someone had stolen _her_ life.

"What don't I get?" Fushida asked.

"This isn't me!" Sayaka tried to explain, however pointless it may have been. "This isn't the life I am suppose to have."

Fushida sighed and her expression suddenly became almost humorous. "Guess you are turning out to be a pretty complicated case after all." Then she seeed to be talking more to herself as she said, "And here I thought this one was going to be easy."

"That's not very helpful," Sayaka said.

"Wasn't suppose to be."

Sayaka's tears dried up and her eyes narrowed, thinking, " _Seriously?"_

"You are not very professional either," said Sayaka. "You… you can't just park in front of the hospital, you know! And when you wrote your phone number on my hand yesterday. I didn't give you permission to do that! Not to mention I am pretty sure you were speeding when you drove me over here yesterday!"

"Unprofessional? Maybe I just don't act exactly the way _you_ expect me to. Maybe that is part of your problem. You are too focused on what _should be_ instead of what _is_." It seemed she could not help grinning at Sayaka's expression. "Or maybe when you are upset you just too badly want to find someone to be angry at?"

"What?" She didn't know what else to say.

"Well, judging me seems to have distracted you from that little crisis you were having, so more power to you." She grinned, "You certainly look a little better, at least, but that won't always work out for you. Sometimes, that can just end up making your situation worse. So be careful."

Sayaka's eyes widened, thinking back on a few things and wondering if she really does do that. She remembered those horrible things she said to Madoka in her first life… she never got a chance to apologize for that.

"Um… I'm… sorry…" she said, uncertainly.

"It's alright. Listen, I don't have the answers you are looking for. I wish I did, but I don't. You are just going to have to find those things for yourself." She put a hand on her shoulder. "There is one thing I can tell about you, though. You're a tough girl, so just stick it out. I know you can do it."

Sayaka blushed. "Um… thanks."

Fushida smiled. "Anyway, everything seems to be in order here. I have a couple more stops to make today, so I guess I'll be getting out of your hair for now."

"You're leaving?" Sayaka asked, the prospect of being left alone again bothering her.

"Yeah, sorry. As I said, I have a schedule to keep."

"Oh…"

Fushida sighed and put a hand on her hip. "You look like you want something. Go ahead and ask, the worst I can do is say no."

"Well… If it is on your way, do you think you can take me to the hospital?" Sayaka asked. She hadn't thought of it before, but her second life self actually had been staying at the same hospital as Kyosuke. She never met him in this life, but he was still a familiar face she could possible go talk to for a while and not feel so lonely. Even if he would not remember her, they shared an interest in music and she could really use having a nice casual conversation with someone. "I want to go visit a friend there."

Fushida smiled. "There you go. Yeah, I am heading in that direction, though it is a _little_ out of my way. So, I will take you on the condition that you can leave right now. Deal?"

"Um…" she looked down at herself, she was still wearing her school uniform. "Well…"

Fushida sighed, and in a flat dry tone she said, "Hurry up and get changed."

"Oh-okay!" Sayaka said, then quickly went into her bedroom and closed the door behind herself.

"You got two minutes," Fushida called after her as she went to take a seat on the couch for a moment while she waited.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **Follow me on twitter at /Atomyst_fics or find a direct link in my profile.**

 **-Atomyst.**


End file.
